The book of Zephaniah takes place during the time of Josiah in 2 Kings 21. It’s another book comprised of a few prophecies for Judah and other nations.
Yet again God is mad because people are ignoring Him, and not just people but the priests who are supposed to be those who keep them people aware of His mandates. He goes on to stress the way, which they will suffer.
It seems that every time there is a prophecy about how bad Judah or Israel is gonna get it, its followed by a prophecy of how much worse it will be for those who do this to her and that she will be “restored” afterward.
This chapter opens with a sentiment from God that is typically parental. He talks about trying to merely correct the problem along the way but that the people aren’t responding to it. Here is the first use in text for this book of the feminine pronouns for Judah.
This is followed by the announcement that God is just going to remove the bad ones and leave/return, the humble who will turn to Him and be better.
Then there’s an assurance directly to those people. It includes the use of the terms “daughter or Zion” and “daughter of Jerusalem” together in the first verse of this section. There’s a verse that includes “you shall never again fear evil” out of verse 15, which is interesting. Its not like Jews haven’t continued to be persecuted by other groups, even subject to Rome by the NT. So that’s probably just for the specific people coming back
Chapter links go to the ESV translations at Biblehub.com but I’m reading from the ESV Global Study Bible
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