Translators who are following Ball’s analysis will have a section heading here rather than at 2.4.

The opening words in Good News Translation, “The LORD Almighty says,” actually occur in verse 9 in the Hebrew, but Good News Translation places them here at the start of the paragraph, where they identify the speaker before the direct speech begins.

I have heard the taunts of Moab and the revilings of the Ammonites, how they have taunted my people: as can be seen from this literal translation, the Hebrew sentence is expressed with parts parallel to each other. Good News Translation drops this parallel structure and puts the sentence into an order more natural for English, “I have heard the people of Moab and Ammon insulting and taunting my people.” Most translators will find this order more natural in their own languages. “Taunting” is similar to insulting. It refers to using contemptuous or sarcastic language which is intended to embarrass or hurt someone else.

“The people of Moab and Ammon” were Judah’s neighbors on the east, across the River Jordan. They were both Semitic peoples, descendants of Abraham’s nephew Lot, according to Genesis 19.30-38. Their relations with the people of Israel were usually hostile. Here the implication seems to be that hard words spoken against Israel as the LORD’s people are in effect spoken against the LORD himself.

And made boasts against their territory: the probable meaning is that the Ammonites either advanced across the frontier (compare New English Bible “encroached on their frontiers”) or threatened to do so. Good News Translation understands the sentence in the second sense and translates it plainly as “boasting that they would seize their land” (compare Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Made boasts against may be translated in a variety of ways; for example, “spoke big words saying that they would…” or “said that they were superior people and would….” “Their” in the phrase “their land” refers to the people of Judah. “Seize” may also be rendered as “take by force.”

Alternative translation models for the final sentence of this verse are:

• “They used big words saying that they would take the land of the people of Judah by force”

or

• “They used proud words, saying ‘We will take your land by force.’ ”

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 .