What Is the Book of Zephaniah?

Zephaniah is one of the twelve “minor prophets,” so called because the books with their names are relatively short. The superscription (1:1) attributes the book to Zephaniah son of Cushi, whose ancestry is traced back four generations to Hezekiah, possibly, but not necessarily, King Hezekiah of Judah (reigned 727–698 BCE). Zephaniah’s prophecies are set during the reign of King Josiah (640–609 BCE), a period of turmoil when the Assyrian Empire was declining and the Babylonian Empire was positioning itself to replace it. The small country of Judah was caught in the international political power plays of the larger nations. The prophet warns of the destruction of Jerusalem, viewing the destruction, as was typical among the biblical prophets, as a punishment for Judah’s unfaithfulness to God, that is, the people’s adoption of foreign religious practices that they superimposed on Israelite practices. The book ends on a positive note, with punishment for Israel’s enemies, a gathering of the remnants of Judah, and universal worship of Israel’s God.