Zephaniah 3:1

Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!

Woe to her that is filthy. Maurer translates, from a different root [mowrª'aah, from maaraah (H4784), to rebel], 'rebellious' 'contumacious' "Filthy" refers to her inward moral filth, in spite of her outward ceremonial purity (Calvin). Grotius says the Hebrew is used of women who have prostituted their virtue [from raa'aah (H7200), to look down upon: 'made a public show (or example) of' as an immodest woman, Matthew 1:19 ]. The sense 'contumacious' accords with Zephaniah 3:2, "She obeyed not the voice." There is in the Hebrew mor'aah a play on the name Moriah, the hill on which the temple was built; implying the glaring contrast between their filthiness and the holiness of the worship on Moriah, which they professed to have a share in. Jerome translates, 'provocation,' provoking: others, from a root to stuff one's self with food [ maaraa' (H4754)], and so to wax fat, wanton, and rebellious. See margin, 'gluttonous.' The English version takes it from a root [row'iy], filth.

And polluted. So most authorities translate: though a different sense is admissible [nig'aalaah, from naa'al, which means to redeem, whence Jerome and Vulgate translate here 'redeemed' - i:e., 'Woe to her who is provokingly contumacious, though she has been redeemed!' But the other meaning of the root, "pollute" and "polluted," is perhaps preferable.]

To the oppressing city - oppressing the poor, weak, widows, orphans, and strangers (Jeremiah 22:3) [ yownaah (H3123), from yaanaah (H3238), to oppress: not as Vulgate, Tirinus, and Menochius, 'silly as a dove,' rushing into the snare (Hosea 7:11): which, though a legitimate sense of the Hebrew, does not suit the context so well].