Zephaniah
Minor Prophets · Old Testament · Book 36 of 66- Author
- Zephaniah, great-great-grandson of Hezekiah
- Written
- c. 630 BC
- Time covered
- c. 640–621 BC, in the days of Josiah
- Where
- Jerusalem
- Written to
- A nation about to be reformed, and still headed for exile
- Genre
- Prophecy
- Chapters
- 3
“The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.”Zephaniah 3:17 KJV
Read Zephaniah in the Bible Reader
Download this book:KJV PDF, 83 KBBSB PDF, 96 KB
Overview
Zephaniah preaches the day of the LORD harder than anyone: a day of wrath, trouble, distress, wasteness, desolation, darkness and gloominess, against Judah and against the nations around it.
Then the book turns. The same God who sweeps the land clean gathers a meek and humble remnant, and the last paragraph is not thunder but singing — God Himself rejoicing over His people with joy.
Background
Zephaniah was of royal blood and preached in Jerusalem during Josiah’s reign, probably before the great reform. Manasseh’s long, idolatrous rule was still fresh in the land.
His targets are specific: officials in foreign clothes, merchants in the Fish Gate district, men who say in their hearts that the LORD will do neither good nor evil.
Key themes
- The day of the LORD is near and searching — God will search Jerusalem with candles.
- Complacency is its own sin: settled on their lees, expecting nothing from God.
- Judgment falls on the nations too, from Philistia to Assyria.
- Seek the LORD, all ye meek of the earth — it may be ye shall be hid.
- God rejoices over His restored people with singing.
Outline
- The day of the LORDChapter 1
A sweeping judgment on Judah, naming the idolaters and the indifferent alike.
- The nations, and a call to seekChapter 2
Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Ethiopia and Assyria — and seek ye the LORD, all ye meek.
- Jerusalem, and joyChapter 3
The city rebuked, the nations given a pure language, and God singing over His people.
Key passages
- Zephaniah 1:12 Men settled on their lees, that say the LORD will not do good, neither evil.
- Zephaniah 1:14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly.
- Zephaniah 2:3 Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth.
- Zephaniah 3:5 The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity.
- Zephaniah 3:9 A pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD.
- Zephaniah 3:17 He will rejoice over thee with joy; he will joy over thee with singing.
Christ in Zephaniah
The book ends with God in the midst of His people as a mighty one who saves — which is what the name Jesus means and what the incarnation did. The remnant Zephaniah describes, meek and trusting in the name of the LORD, is the company Jesus called blessed.
Reading it
- Read chapter 1 in one breath; the relentlessness is the point.
- Then read 3:14-20 and notice who is doing the singing.
- Compare 2:3 with the Beatitudes.