The verb of speaking, says the LORD of hosts, has been transferred to verse 8 in Good News Translation, which is thus able to continue the direct quotation right through verse 9 without interruption. On ways to translate LORD of hosts, see the comments on Nahum 2.13.
Therefore, as I live is in Hebrew a formula used in introducing an oath. English has no standard form of language with an equivalent function, but other languages may well have such a form. If so, translators should think carefully about whether such a form will be appropriate when used of words coming from God. If it is, then it will be good to use it here. In this verse Yahweh is portrayed as a God who is alive and acts or does things for his people. This is in contrast to the dead gods of the pagans. The word “swear” in this context means “to make a strong promise” or “… a vow.”
The God of Israel means “the God whom the people of Israel worship (or, serve)” or “the God who protects the people of Israel.” In the present context the latter seems more probable.
Moab shall become like Sodom, and the Ammonites like Gomorrah: as in the previous verse, the Hebrew expresses this sentence with parallel parts. Again Good News Translation drops the parallel structure and puts the sentence into an order more natural for English: “I swear that Moab and Ammon are going to be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah.” This is also the order which most translators will find more natural for their own languages. The phrase “are going to be destroyed” may also be translated as “I will destroy,” or the whole clause may be rendered as “I will cause the people of Moab and Ammon to be killed” (see comments on Nahum 1.9).
Alternative translation models for the first part of this verse are:
• I am the LORD who is alive, the God who protects the people of Israel. So I make a solemn (or, strong) promise that I will cause the people of Moab and Ammon to be killed, like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Or:
• I the LORD am alive, and I look after the people of Israel. Therefore I promise that….
Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by the LORD in some kind of volcanic upheaval because of their great wickedness (Gen 19.23-29). Their fate became a proverbial example of utter destruction, and is used in this way many times in the Old Testament. It is particularly appropriate here because, although Lot was rescued from Sodom (Gen 19.12-22), his descendants, the people of Moab and Ammon, will be destroyed as completely as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The phrase “They will become” can be rendered as “Their lands will become….”
A land possessed by nettles and salt pits, and a waste for ever: the area around the Dead Sea, where Sodom and Gomorrah were located, is indeed very barren and sterile. For centuries it was customary to dig pits and allow them to fill with water from the Dead Sea. When this water evaporated, salt was left, and this was used commercially. Since nothing would grow in that area, salt pits were associated with “everlasting ruin” (Good News Translation). The meaning here is that the whole territories of Moab and Ammon will become as barren as the area around the Dead Sea. In areas where salt pits are not known, one may translate “a land that is barren (or, not fertile)” or “a land where no food will grow.” In the places where anything can grow, the land will not be cultivated but possessed by nettles. The word translated nettles probably refers to a particular species of plant. It cannot be identified with certainty today, and it is better for most translators to follow the example of Good News Translation and use a generic term like “weeds,” rather than substitute a specific weed known in their own area. The phrase and a waste for ever can be rendered as “a place where crops will never be grown” or “where no one can ever grow crops again.”
The remnant of my people shall plunder them, and the survivors of my nation shall possess them: once more Good News Translation has dropped the parallel structure of the Hebrew in order to produce a natural sentence in English: “Those of my people who survive will plunder them and take their land.” Whereas the people of Moab and Ammon intended to seize the territory of Judah (verse 8), in fact the survivors of Judah will in the end plunder them and possess their land. The prophet here envisages those returned from exile expanding eastward across the Jordan, just as they would expand westward into the Philistine coastal plain in verse 7. Plunder can be rendered in many languages as “take (someone’s) possessions by force.” For survivors see the comments on “remnant” in verse 7 of this chapter.
The direct words of the LORD which began at verse 8 end at the end of verse 9, and in many languages it will be helpful to mark this in some way.
An alternative translation model for the latter half of this verse is:
• “… Their lands will become a place full of salt pits where no one will ever grow crops again. Only weeds will grow there. Those of my people who do not die will take the possessions of the people of Moab and Ammon by force and take away their land.” This is what the LORD says.
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 .