The Hebrew text is rather wordy and repetitive, as reflected in Revised Standard Version, but Good News Translation shortens it somewhat to make the English style more natural. The seacoast shall become the possession of becomes “will occupy your land,” and the remnant of the house of Judah becomes “The people of Judah who survive.” The shorter forms of Good News Translation will be a more satisfactory translation model for most translators. However, in some languages it will be helpful to translate as “The people of Judah who do not die” or “The people of Judah who escape judgment.”
“Occupy” (shall become the possession of) may be rendered as “take over” or “take control of,” or the whole sentence may be restructured as “your land will belong to the people of Judah…,” or even “the people of Judah … will take possession of your land.” There is no suggestion of military force here. The people of Judah will be able to take the land because there will be no Philistines left.
The remnant of the house of Judah probably refers to the people who have passed through the judgment described in 1.4-16. The remnant may also be translated as “those who do not die” or “those who are still alive.” The former Philistine land will be so uninhabited that the people of Judah will be able to pasture their flocks of sheep and goats there. In the deserted houses of Ashkelon, the shepherds will lie down at evening, or as Good News Translation puts it more briefly, “sleep.” Some translators will need to designate Ashkelon as a city.
The reason for this growth of territory and power among the people of Judah is that the LORD their God will be mindful of them and restore their fortunes. The Hebrew verb translated will be mindful of them is literally “shall visit them” (King James Version), which often carries overtones of punishment. Here, however, it clearly refers to blessing. Good News Translation says simply “will be with them.” In some languages this will be translated as “be good to them” or even “treat them well.”
The expression rendered restore their fortunes usually refers to the return from captivity in Babylon and perhaps has the same overtones here, though it sometimes has a more general meaning, as in Job 42.10. Good News Translation translates with a general meaning as “make them prosper again.” In languages which do not have a general word for prosperity, it will be necessary to indicate whether restore their fortunes refers to “material prosperity,” or “health, happiness,” and so on. The former is more likely in this context.
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 .