In the first four verses of this chapter Revised Standard Version has never identified the city as Jerusalem, and Good News Translation has named the city only once. For many translators it will be helpful to say “… in Jerusalem” in the first sentence or at some other point in the verse.
Despite the failures of the leading men, the LORD himself “is still in the city” (Good News Translation). His presence within her is contrasted with that of the “officials within her” (verse 3). Whereas they acted wickedly, the LORD is righteous, he does no wrong. Good News Translation expresses this in a structure which brings out more sharply the contrast between the positive and negative sides of the statement: “he does what is right and never what is wrong.”
The next part of the verse consists in Hebrew of two clauses with partially overlapping meaning: every morning he shows forth his justice, each dawn he does not fail. Good News Translation compresses these two clauses into one and avoids repetition by saying “Every morning without fail, he brings justice to his people.” In languages which use repetitive structures, the more literal version of Revised Standard Version may be a satisfactory translation base. However, many translators will prefer to avoid repetition, and they will find useful guidance in the example of Good News Translation.
The words every morning here echo “till the morning” of verse 3 and again heighten the contrast between the cruelty of the leaders and the faithfulness of the LORD. If a literal translation of every morning would imply the exclusion of the rest of the day, then one may translate as “every day.” The focus is on the constancy of God’s justice.
The clause he shows forth his justice may also be rendered as “he treats his people with justice,” “he uses justice in his relations with his people,” or “he shows what it means to behave justly.”
He does not fail (Good News Translation “without fail”) means he does it “constantly” or “never missing a day.” Some languages will handle this idea of “constantly” through reduplication of some sort; for example, “every every morning.”
The final words of the verse seem to have no close connection with the earlier part, and this, together with the variety of translations in the ancient versions, has led some scholars to suggest that they should be deleted (compare New American Bible, New English Bible margin). However, the words in Hebrew make sense, and there is no textual reason to omit them. Revised Standard Version but the unjust knows no shame is expanded in Good News Translation to “And yet the unrighteous people there keep on doing wrong and are not ashamed.” They continue with their evil conduct despite every evidence of the LORD’s goodness to his people mentioned in the earlier part of the verse. Unjust or “unrighteous” refers to the people mentioned in verses 3-4, and in many languages may be translated as “evil people” or “wicked people.”
Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on the Book of Zephaniah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1989. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .