Verses 1:2-18 refer to Yahweh's judgment. Verses 1:2-3 describe Yahweh's final judgment of every sinner in the future.
# the word of Yahweh that came
This idiom is used to introduce a special message from God. AT: "Yahweh gave a message" or "Yahweh spoke this message" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-idiom]])
# Yahweh
This is the name of God that he revealed to his people in the Old Testament. See the translationWord page about Yahweh concerning how to translate this.
# son of Gedaliah son of Amariah son of Hezekiah
This is a list of Zephaniah's ancestors. These usages of "son of" are the broader sense of "descendant of." Here "Hezekiah" refers to King Hezekiah. These things can be made explicit. AT: "the grandson of Gedaliah, and the great-grandson of Amariah, whose father was King Hezekiah" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-explicit]])
# I will utterly destroy everything from off the surface of the earth ... I will cut off man from the surface of the earth
The words "everything" and "will cut off man" are deliberate exaggerations by Yahweh to express his anger at the people's sin. Yahweh will destroy neither sinners who repent nor all living things nor. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-hyperbole]])
# destroy everything from off the surface of the earth
"destroy everything that is on the entire earth"
# this is Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-123person]])
# man and beast
"people and animals"
# the ruins
Possible meanings are 1) the piles of rubble that will remain after the judgment or 2) the idols that Yahweh destroyed.
Destroying is spoken of as if it were cutting something off from what it was a part of. AT: "destroy" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])
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