Zephaniah

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("Jehovah hath hidden") (Psalms 27:5; Psalms 83:3).

1. Ninth of the minor prophets; "in the days of Josiah," between 642 and 611 B.C. "Son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah." The specification of his father, grandfather, and great grandfather, implies he was sprung from men of note. The omission of the designation "king," or "king of Judah," is against the notion that the "Hizkiah" means king Hezekiah (compare Proverbs 25:1; Isaiah 38:9). He prophesied in the former part of Josiah's reign. In Zephaniah 2:13-15 he foretells Nineveh's fall (625 B.C.), therefore his prophesying was before 625 B.C.; and in Zephaniah 1:4-6 threatens "cutting off" to "the remnant of Baal" and "the name of the (See CHEMARIMS with the priests "; see Hosea 10:5 margin, "and them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops, and them that worship and that swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham."

Fulfilled by Josiah (2 Kings 23:4-5). Josiah's reformation was begun in the 12th year of his reign, and was completed in the 18th. Zephaniah in denouncing the different forms of idolatry paved the way for Josiah's work, and probably cooperated with the king from the 12th to the 18th year. Jewish tradition says that Zephaniah had as his colleagues Jeremiah, labouring in the thoroughfares and market places, and Huldah the prophetess in the college in Jerusalem. His position among the prophets, and his quotations from Joel, Amos, and Isaiah, indicate the correctness of the date assigned to him in Zephaniah 1:1.

In Zephaniah 1:8, "I will punish the king's children" must refer to coming judgments on the foreseen idolatries of the younger members of the royal family (Jeremiah 22:19; Jeremiah 39:6; 2 Kings 23:31-32-36-37; 2 Chronicles 36:5-6; 2 Kings 20:18). Not only the masses, but even princes, should not escape the penalty of idolatry. "The remnant of Baal" (Zephaniah 1:4) implies that Josiah's reformation was already begun but not completed.

2. "The second priest" or sagan , next to the high priest. Son of Maaseiah. Sent by Zedekiah to consult Jeremiah (Jeremiah 21:1). Succeeded to Jehoiada who was in exile. Appealed to by Shemaiah in a letter from Babylon to punish Jeremiah with imprisonment and the stocks for declaring the captivity would be long (Jeremiah 29:25-26; Jeremiah 29:29). Zephaniah read the letter to Jeremiah. This fact and Shemaiah's upbraiding Zephaniah for want of zeal against Jeremiah imply that Zephaniah was less prejudiced against Jeremiah than the others. This was the reason for the king's choosing him as messenger to the prophet (Jeremiah 37:3). Slain by Nebuchadnezzar as an accomplice in Zedekiah's rebellion (Jeremiah 52:24; Jeremiah 52:27). Jeremiah 52:3. Father of Hen or Josiah (Zechariah 6:14). Zechariah 6:4. Ancestor of Samuel and Heman; a Kohathite Levite (1 Chronicles 6:36), called Uriel 1 Chronicles 6:24.

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

So far as we know, Zephaniah was the first prophet to appear in Judah since Isaiah and Micah, whose work had come to an end seventy years earlier. His preaching marked the beginning of a new era of prophetic activity in Judah, but it was an era that was to end in the destruction of Jerusalem. Among the prophets who followed him were Jeremiah, Nahum and Habakkuk.

Background to the book

For much of the seventy years before Zephaniah, the wicked Manasseh had reigned. After his reign the spiritual condition of Judah was worse than that for which God had destroyed the Canaanites in the time of Joshua. The destruction of Judah appeared to be inevitable (2 Kings 21:1-16).

The new era was marked not only by the preaching of Zephaniah, but also by the religious reforms of the new king, Josiah (who had come to the throne in 640 BC). It seems that Zephaniah and Josiah were related (Zephaniah 1:1). Josiah’s reforms, which lasted many years, were aimed at removing idolatry and restoring the true worship of God in Jerusalem. (For details of the reforms see 2 Kings 22:3-20; 2 Kings 23:1-25; 2 Chronicles 34; 2 Chronicles 35.)

Zephaniah saw that the improvements in the external forms of religion, though commendable, were no substitute for true reform in heart and life. The wrong attitudes promoted by Manasseh were so deeply rooted that Josiah’s reforms could not remove them (2 Kings 23:26-27). As Zephaniah announced God’s judgment on the nation, he urged people to repent of their wrongdoing and come to a true knowledge of God.

Contents of the book

The preaching of Zephaniah was concerned largely with the certainty of God’s judgment on sinners. The violence, cheating and false religion of Manasseh’s time were still widespread in Jerusalem (1:1-18). But there was hope for those who humbly turned from their sin to the Lord (2:1-3). Examples from the surrounding nations impressed upon the people that evildoers could not escape God’s judgment (2:4-15). Jerusalem’s sin guaranteed a terrible judgment for the city (3:1-8), though when all the sinners had been destroyed, those who had truly repented would enjoy God’s blessing (3:9-20).

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Zephani'ah. (hidden by Jehovah).

1. The ninth, in order, of the twelve minor prophets. His pedigree is traced to his fourth ancestor, Hezekiah, Zephaniah 1:1, supposed to be the celebrated king of that name. The chief characteristics of this book are the unity and harmony of the composition, the grace, energy and dignity of its style, and the rapid and effective alternations of threats and promises.

The general tone of the last portion is Messianic, but without any specific reference to the person of our Lord. The date of the book is given in the inscription - viz, the reign of Josiah, from 642 to 611 B.C. It is most probable, moreover, that the prophecy was delivered before the eighteenth year of Josiah.

2. The son of Maaseiah, Jeremiah 21:1, and sagan or second priest in the reign of Zedekiah. (B.C. 588). He succeeded Jehoida, Jeremiah 29:25-26, and was probably a ruler of the Temple, whose office it was, among others, to punish pretenders to the gift of prophecy. Jeremiah 29:29 On the capture of Jerusalem, he was taken and slain at Riblah. Jeremiah 52:24; Jeremiah 52:27; 2 Kings 25:18; 2 Kings 25:21.

3. Father of Josiah, 2, Zechariah 6:10, and of Hen, according to the reading of the received text of Zechariah 6:14.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

1. A Kohathite, in the seventh generation from Levi, 1 Chronicles 6:36 .

2. A priest, high in the sacred order, during the troublous times of king Zedekiah, who often communicated with Jeremiah by his agency. He was among the captives slain by the king of Babylon at Riblah, 2 Kings 25:18-21 Jeremiah 21:1 29:25,29 37:3 52:24-27 .

3. The ninth in order of the minor prophets, of the tribe of Simeon. He prophesied in the early part of king Josiah's reign, before the reforms of that good king were instituted, 2 Chronicles 34:3 Zephaniah 1:4-5 .

This would fix his date about 630 B. C., and the destruction of Nineveh, foretold in Zephaniah 2:13 , occurred in 625 B. C. His prophecy contains two oracles, in three chapters, directed against idolaters in Judah, against surrounding idolatrous nations, and against wicked rulers, priests, and prophets. It closes with cheering promises of gospel blessings. His style and manner are like those of Jeremiah, during whose early years they were contemporary. His subsequent history is unknown.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

ZEPHANIAH . 1 . The prophet (see next art.). 2 . A Kohathite ( 1 Chronicles 6:36 ). 3 . Son of Maaseiah the priest in Jerusalem in the time of Zekediah the king and Jeremiah the prophet ( Jeremiah 21:1; Jeremiah 29:25; Jeremiah 29:29; Jeremiah 37:3 ). As next in rank to Seraiah, grandson of Hilkiah ( 1 Chronicles 6:14 ), Zeph. is called second priest ( 2 Kings 25:18 ). On the occasion of the final overthrow of Jerusalem he was put to death at Riblah ( Jeremiah 52:24 ff.). 4 . The father of one Josiah in Babylon ( Zechariah 6:10; Zechariah 6:14 ).

Holman Bible Dictionary

2. Priest whom King Zedekiah sent asking Jeremiah to pray for the nation threatened by Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon (Jeremiah 21:1-7; Jeremiah 37:3 ). He reported false prophecy from Babylon to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 29:24-32 ). When Jerusalem fell, the priest was executed (Jeremiah 52:24-27 ).

3. Father of Josiah and Hen (Zechariah 6:10 ,Zechariah 6:10,6:14 ), possibly identical with 2. above. 4. A Levite (1 Chronicles 6:36 ), perhaps the same as Uriel (1 Chronicles 6:24 ).

Paul L. Redditt

Morrish Bible Dictionary

1. Son of Maaseiah and 'second' priest in the reign of Zedekiah; he was carried captive to Nebuchadnezzar and slain at Riblah. 2 Kings 25:18; Jeremiah 21:1; Jeremiah 29:25,29; Jeremiah 37:3; Jeremiah 52:24 .

2. Son of Tahath, a Kohathite. 1 Chronicles 6:36,37 .

3. Son of Cushi, and one of the 'minor prophets.' Zephaniah 1:1 .

4. Father of Josiah and of Hen. Zechariah 6:10,14 .

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

was the son of Cushi, and was probably of a noble family of the tribe of Simeon. He prophesied in the reign of Josiah, about B.C. 630. He denounces the judgments of God against the idolatry and sins of his countrymen, and exhorts them to repentance; he predicts the punishment of the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, and Ethiopians, and foretels the destruction of Nineveh; he again inveighs against the corruptions of Jerusalem, and with his threats mixes promises of future favour and prosperity to his people; whose recall from their dispersion shall glorify the name of God throughout the world. The style of Zephaniah is poetical; but it is not distinguished by any peculiar elegance or beauty, though generally animated and impressive.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

The father of Josiah, the priest who dwelt in Jerusalem when Darius issued the decree that the temple should be rebuilt (Zechariah 6:10 ).

Copyright StatementThese dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography InformationEaston, Matthew George. Entry for 'Zephaniah'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/z/zephaniah.html. 1897.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Zephaniah (zĕph'a-nî'ah), Jehovah hides. 1. One of the minor prophets, in the days of Josiah. His prophecy was uttered about b.c. 620 to 609. The description of the judgment in ch. 1:14, 15, "The great day of Jehovah is near" (in the Latin version Dies iræ, dies illa), has furnished the basis for the sublime hymn of the Middle Ages, the Dies Iræ ascribed to Thomas a Celano, and often translated. There are four persons of this name mentioned in the Bible.

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

An eminent prophet, though his writings are small. His name is a compound, from Tzaphan, secret—and Jah, the Lord. And very suited was this name to the prophet; for much of the Lord Jesus is in his prophecy, when opened and explained by God the Holy Ghost. Hence, that Scripture, "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will shew them his covenant." (Psalms 25:14)

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Zephani´ah, the ninth in order of the Minor Prophets. The name seems to have been a common one among the Jews. Contrary to usual custom, the pedigree of the prophet is traced back for four generations—'the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah,' As there was at least another Zephaniah, a conspicuous personage at the time of the captivity, the parentage of the prophet may have been recounted so minutely to prevent any reader from confounding the two individuals. The so-called Epiphanius asserts that Zephaniah was of the tribe of Simeon, of the hill Sarabatha. The existence of the prophet is known only from his oracles, and these have no biographical sketches; so that our knowledge of this man of God comprises only the fact and the results of his inspiration. It may be safely inferred, however, that he labored with Josiah in the pious work of reestablishing the worship of Jehovah in the land.

It is recorded (Zephaniah 1) that the word of the Lord came to him 'in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, King of Judah.' We have reason for supposing that he flourished during the earlier portion of Josiah's reign. In the second chapter () he foretells the doom of Nineveh, and the fall of that ancient city happened about the eighteenth year of Josiah. In the commencement of his oracles also, he denounces various forms of idolatry, and specially the remnant of Baal. The reformation of Josiah began in the twelfth, and was completed in the eighteenth year of his reign. So thorough was his extirpation of the idolatrous rites and hierarchy which defiled his kingdom, that he burnt down the groves, dismissed the priesthood, threw down the altars, and made dust of the images of Baalim. Zephaniah must have prophesied prior to this religious revolution, while some remains of Baal were yet secreted in the land, or between the twelfth and eighteenth years of the royal reformer. So Hitzig and Movers place him; while Eichhorn, Bertholdt, and Jaeger incline to give him a somewhat later date. At all events, he flourished between the years B.C. 642and B.C. 611; and the portion of his prophecy which refers to the destruction of the Assyrian Empire must have been delivered prior to the year B.C. 625, the year in which Nineveh fell. The publication of these oracles was, therefore, contemporary with a portion of those of Jeremiah, for the word of the Lord came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah. Indeed, the Jewish tradition is, that Zephaniah had for his colleagues Jeremiah and the prophetess Huldah, the former fixing his sphere of labor in the thoroughfares and marketplaces, the latter exercising her honorable vocation in the college in Jerusalem.

The book consists of only three chapters. In Zephaniah 1, the sins of the nation are severely reprimanded, and a day of fearful retribution is menaced. The circuit of reference is wider in Zephaniah 2, and the ungodly and persecuting states in the neighborhood of Judaea are also doomed; but in Zephaniah 3, while the prophet inveighs bitterly against Jerusalem and her magnates, he concludes with the cheering prospect of her ultimate settlement and blissful theocratic enjoyment.

The style of this prophet has not the sustained majesty of Isaiah, or the sublime and original energy of Joel: it has no prominent feature of distinction; yet its delineations are graphic, and many of its touches are bold and striking. For example, in the first chapter the prophet groups together in his descriptions of the national idolatry several characteristic exhibitions of its forms and worship. The verses are not tame and prosaic portraiture, but form a series of vivid sketches. The poet seizes on the more strange peculiarities of the heathen worship—uttering denunciations on the remnant of Baal, the worshippers of Chemarim—the star-adorers, the devotees of Malcham, the fanatics who clad themselves in strange apparel, and those who in some superstitious mummery leaped upon the threshold. Not a few verses occur in the course of the prophecy which, in tone and dignity, are not unworthy to be associated with the more distinguished effusions of the Hebrew bards. The language is pure: it has not the classic ease and elegance of the earlier compositions, but it wants the degenerate feebleness and Aramaic corruption of the succeeding era. Zephaniah is not expressly quoted in the New Testament; but clauses and expressions occur which seem to have been formed from his prophecy (; , etc.). He was, in fine, as Cyril of Alexandria terms him, 'a true prophet, and filled with the Holy Ghost, and bringing his oracles from the mouth of God.'

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Tsephanyah', צְפִנְיָה [in the prolonged form Tsephanya'hu,

צְפִנְיָהוּ, 2 Kings 25:18], hidden of Jehovah; Sept. Σοφονίας v.r. [in 1 Chronicles] Σαφανίας, Vulg. Sophonias), the name of four Hebrews.

1. A Kohathite Levite, son of Tahath and father of Azariah, in the ancestry of the prophet Samuel (q.v.) and of Heman (1 Chronicles 6:36 [Heb. 21]); the same elsewhere (Heb. 21:24 [9]) called URIEL (See Uriel) (q.v.) the father of Uzziah.

2. A prophet of whom we have no information beyond what his book furnishes. In this (Zephaniah 1:1) he is said to have been "the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah," which last is usually regarded as the same with king Hezekiah. If so, he lived B.C. cir. 620. With this agrees the date, of his prophecy there given; namely, in the reign of Josiah. We do not elsewhere, however, read of an such son of Hezekiah as Amariah, and, so far as he record and probability go, Manasseh was his only son. (See Book Of Zephaniah).

3. The son of Maaseiah (Jeremiah 21:1) and sagan, or second priest, in the reign of Zedekiah. He succeeded Jehoiada (Jeremiah 29:29; Jeremiah 25:26), and was probably a ruler of the Temple, whose office it was, among others, to punish pretenders to the gift of prophecy. In this capacity, he was appealed to by Shenaiah the Nehelamite, in a letter from Babylon, to punish Jeremiah (Jeremiah 29:29). Twice was he sent from Zedekiah to inquire of Jeremiah the issue of the siege of the city by the Chaldaeans (Jeremiah 21:1), and to implore him to intercede for the people (Jeremiah 37:3). On the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuzaradan, he was taken with Seraiah the high-priest and others, and slain at Riblah. (Jeremiah 52:24; Jeremiah 52:27; 2 Kings 25:18; 2 Kings 25:21). B.C. 588.

4. Father of Josiah 2 (Zechariah 6:10), and of Hen, according to the reading of the received text of Zechariah 6:14 as given in the A. V. B.C. ante 519. (See Josiah).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

zef - a - nı̄´a ( צפניה , cephanyāh , צפניהוּ , cephanyāhū , "Yah hath treasured"):

(1) The prophet. See Zephaniah , Book Of .

(2) A L evite or priest (1 Chronicles 6:36 (Hebrew 6:21)), called in some genealogies "Uriel" ( 1 Chronicles 6:24; 1 Chronicles 15:5 , 1 Chronicles 15:11 ).

(3) Judean father or fathers of various contemporaries of Zechariah, the prophet (Zechariah 6:10 , Zechariah 6:14 ).

(4) A priest, the second in rank in the days of Jeremiah. He was a leader of the "patriotic" party which opposed Jeremiah. Nevertheless, he was sent to the prophet as a messenger of King Zedekiah when Nebuchadnezzar was about to attack the city (Jeremiah 21:1 ) and at other crises (Jeremiah 37:3; compare Jeremiah 29:25 , Jeremiah 29:29; 2 Kings 25:18 ). That he continued to adhere to the policy of resistance against Babylonian authority is indicated by the fact that he was among the leaders of Israel taken by Nebuzaradan before the king of Babylon, and killed at Riblah (2 Kings 25:18 parallel Jeremiah 52:24 ).

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

A Hebrew prophet who prophesied in the interval between the decline and fall of Nineveh and the hostile advance of Babylon; forewarned the nation of the judgment of God impending over them for their ungodliness, and exhorted them to repentance as the only way of averting the inevitable doom, while he at the same time encouraged the faithful to persevere in their godly course with the assurance that the day of judgment would be succeeded by a day of glorious deliverance, that they would yet become "a name and a praise among the people of the earth."