Zephaniah: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary

Zephaniah: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. By Adele Berlin. AB 25A. New York: Doubleday, 1994, 165 pp., $29.00.

The little book of Zephaniah has not received the attention it deserves, and Adele Berlin's volume is a welcome addition to the literature on it. The commentary contains a couple of helpful maps, a useful bibliography, and indices for Scripture references, subjects and authors. The author also gives her own translation of Zephaniah. The question of the date is based on the data in the superscription: "the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah." Whether the religious picture in Zephaniah refers to the pre- or post-Josianic situation is left open. But Berlin makes clear "that the time of Josiah is not necessarily the time that the book was written, but it is the time in which the book is set" (p. 38; italics hers).

Since Zephaniah is mentioned only in the superscription and nowhere else, Berlin concludes there is "no way to confirm whether he indeed existed and spoke the words attributed to him" (p. 31). But she concludes that his "existence is credible, though, because other prophets like him were active before, during, and after this period, and because the personal name 'Zephaniah' is an authentic name, found in the Bible . . . and on a seal impression from Lachish" (p. 31).

Matters of a more technical nature are treated briefly but are judicious. The textual observations are especially to the point. The author's sensitivity to literary matters (see her The Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism) enable her to make some pointed observations in this area. The author's personal translation of the text is crisp and stylish.

Larry L. Walker Jonesborough, TN

Copyright Evangelical Theological Society Sep 1998
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