Zephaniah (Sophonias) is counted among the Twelve Minor Prophets of the Old Testament, where he stands ninth in the traditional order. He prophesied in the seventh century before Christ during the reign of Josiah, the pious king of Judah, and was a contemporary of the Prophet Jeremiah. The Orthodox synaxarion tradition relates that he was of the tribe of Simeon, while the superscription of his own book traces his ancestry through four generations to a forebear named Hezekiah. He is commemorated by the Church on December 3.
According to the synaxarion, Zephaniah lived at the royal court, where he preached repentance and supported King Josiah in his campaign to remove idol worship from Judah. His preaching coincided with the king's wider religious reform, and his book is regarded as one of the principal witnesses to the religious life of that era. The biblical superscription places his ministry in Jerusalem, a city the prophet appears to have known intimately.
The brief book that bears his name proclaims the coming 'day of the Lord,' a day of divine wrath against Judah and Jerusalem for their idolatry and corruption. The prophet condemned the worship of foreign gods and the moral failures of the people's leaders and priests, calling them to repentance. He also foretold judgment upon the surrounding nations, naming Gaza, Ashkelon, and other peoples among those who would be punished. The book closes with a vision of restoration and the gathering of a humble remnant under the kingdom of God.
