Below is one of the reflections I wrote for The Message Women’s Devotional Bible, which recently published with NavPress. To learn more about this timely and ambitious project, click here.
To read the Psalm 62 poetry-based reflection I wrote for this project, click here.
God’s Message to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah. It came during the reign of Josiah son of Amon, who was king of Judah:
—Zephaniah 1:1
Who was Zephaniah? The book that bears his name opens with his genealogy: “son of Cushi” signifying ancestry from Cush, an ancient African nation. Zephaniah’s lineage notably goes back five generations, ending with Hezekiah. Given Zephaniah’s knowledge of Jerusalem’s affluent neighborhoods and Temple rituals, Zephaniah is likely a descendant of righteous King Hezekiah.
Zephaniah, whose name means “God protects” or “God treasures,” is active during the reign of Josiah, another faithful king of Judah. Zephaniah is therefore a contemporary of the female prophet Huldah. While it’s unclear if the two Jerusalem prophets knew each other, Huldah’s warning in 2 Kings 22:14-20 resonates with Zephaniah’s “day of the Lord” message.
Starting with the prophet Amos, “the day of the Lord” is a prominent motif in Scripture. “Day” does not necessarily mean 24 hours, but it does specify a definite event in time. As womanist scholar Rev. Dr. Wilda Gafney explains in her book Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, “the day is . . . bitter and terrifying and reduces warriors to tears. The day is apocalyptic.”
“I’m going to make a clean sweep of the earth,
a thorough housecleaning.” God’s Decree.3 “Men and women and animals,
including birds and fish—
Anything and everything that causes sin—will go,
but especially people.* * *
4-6 “I’ll start with Judah
and everybody who lives in Jerusalem.
I’ll sweep the place clean of every trace
of the sex-and-religion Baal shrines and their priests.
I’ll get rid of the people who sneak up to their rooftops at night
to worship the star gods and goddesses;
Also those who continue to worship God
but cover their bases by worshiping other king-gods as well;
Not to mention those who’ve dumped God altogether,
no longer giving him a thought or offering a prayer.—Zephaniah 1: 2-6
Apart from the opening verse, the entire book of Zephaniah is written in poetry. Like all good poetry, the book’s form emphasizes its message. A drum beat that initiates a reversal of creation, Zephaniah 1: 2-6 repeats the Hebrew verb sup (“destroy, sweep”) four times. Hebrew ears hear the similarity of adamah (“earth”) in verse two, and adam (“men and women”) in verse three.
“Quiet now! Reverent silence before me, God,” Zephaniah 1:7 commands, before striking the bass note that will thump throughout the rest of the book: yom (“day”). Although yom can signify the opposite of night, its slant rhyme with the English words “doom” and “gloom” is exactly what Zephaniah predicts.
“The Great Judgment Day of God is almost here.
It’s countdown time: . . . seven, six, five, four . . .
Bitter and noisy cries on my Judgment Day,
even strong men screaming for help.
Judgment Day is payday—my anger paid out:
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of catastrophic doom,
a day of darkness at noon,
a day of black storm clouds,
a day of bloodcurdling war cries,
as forts are assaulted,
as defenses are smashed.
I’ll make things so bad they won’t know what hit them.
They’ll walk around groping like the blind.
They’ve sinned against God!
Their blood will be poured out like old dishwater,
their guts shoveled into slop buckets.
Don’t plan on buying your way out.
Your money is worthless for this.
This is the Day of God’s Judgment—my wrath!
I care about sin with fiery passion—
A fire to burn up the corrupted world,
a wildfire finish to the corrupting people.”—Zephaniah 1: 14-18
Zephaniah emphasizes the day of the Lord’s imminent arrival by quickening yom’s tempo; by verses 14-18, hearers experience “a day of distress and anguish, a day of catastrophic doom, a day of darkness at noon, a day of black storm clouds, a day of bloodcurdling war cries.” Instead of the clouds of God’s presence guiding the newly freed Israelites in Exodus, God’s presence in Zephaniah’s clouds portends divine fury. No wonder these verses undergird the Medieval Latin hymn Dies Irae (“the Day of Wrath”)!
In Zephaniah 1:12, God declares, “I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the people who settle like dregs in wine, those who say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good, nor will he do harm.’” In other words, God not only rebukes a common proverb condoning apathy, but God also cares so much about justice and right relationship that God will pursue those who “settle like dregs” in their inertia.
Zephaniah is a book of reversal: reversal of creation, fortunes, and expectations. Only after the restoration of right relationship does Zephaniah refer to Jerusalem in feminine terms, as “Daughter Zion” (3:14). This book of prophecy even commands rejoicing, including the beautiful words of Zephaniah 3:17.
But such praise only comes after “the day of the Lord.”
Excerpted from The Message Women’s Devotional Bible © 2025 by The Navigators. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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