Inhabitants of the Mortar: a mortar is a vessel in which food or other substances can be pounded. A particular area of Jerusalem was known as the Mortar. It is not certain exactly where this area was, but from its name, scholars assume it was in a hollow somewhere within Jerusalem. Many have suggested the northern part of the Tyropoeon Valley, and this fits the context well, since it is near the Second Quarter and thus in the same general area as the places mentioned in verse 10. It was also a market area, and this fits with the mention of traders in the second part of the verse. Good News Translation translates the general meaning without mentioning any district by name: “you that live in the lower part of the city.”

The words of Good News Translation “when you hear this” have no basis in the Hebrew text and are best omitted (compare Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

For all the traders are no more; all who weigh out silver are cut off: the parallel structure of the Hebrew can be seen from the literal translation of the Revised Standard Version. The term rendered traders is literally “people of Canaan” (Revised Version; compare Jerusalem Bible). It may refer to foreign traders, most likely Phoenicians, but probably the expression is more general and refers also to Jews. The last line of the Hebrew speaks of the traders as those who weigh out silver. Since coinage was not in use at this time, it was necessary in each transaction to weigh the metal that served for money. Since this procedure is virtually unknown today, it will probably be better for most translators to follow the example of Good News Translation and express these two parallel lines as one: “because all the merchants will be dead.” For traders (“merchants”) see comments on Nahum 3.16; for cut off see comments on verse 3.

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 .