When was Zephaniah written?

The prophet Zephaniah lived after the division of the kingdom of Israel into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. He ministered after the northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians in 722 BC. Zephaniah prophesied to the southern kingdom during the reign of King Josiah, who ruled from 640 to 609 BC. The prophet rebuked Judah for its unfaithfulness to God and warned of coming judgment. Zephaniah likely wrote his book between 635 and 625 BC, before Josiah’s reforms.

Zephaniah served as a prophet during the reign of King Josiah, from around 640 to 625 BC. The first verse of the book helps date its content: “The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, during the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah” (Zephaniah 1:1). This introduction anchors Zephaniah’s ministry to Josiah’s reign, from about 640 to 609 BC.

Josiah didn’t begin leading spiritual reform in Judah until the eighth year of his reign, around 632 BC. That’s when he began to seek the Lord and lay the groundwork for changes in the nation. As 2 Chronicles 34:3 explains, “In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols.” This suggests that Zephaniah delivered his message before or as those reforms were beginning, while the people of Judah were still involved in idol worship.

Zephaniah describes conditions in Judah before Josiah’s reforms started, when the people were still worshiping false gods. Zephaniah exposes the priests’ corruption and the blending of true and false religion. He writes, “I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all who live in Jerusalem. I will destroy every remnant of Baal worship in this place, the very names of the idolatrous priests—those who bow down on the roofs to worship the starry host, those who bow down and swear by the Lord and who also swear by Molek” (Zephaniah 1:4–5).

Furthermore, in Zephaniah 1:1, the prophet identifies himself as a descendant of King Hezekiah, whose reign lasted from 715 to 686 BC. The verse traces Zephaniah’s ancestry through four generations: Hezekiah, Amariah, Gedaliah, and Cushi. This suggests that Zephaniah was likely Hezekiah’s great-great-grandson. That generational distance fits with the dating of Zephaniah’s ministry between 640 and 625 BC, about four generations after Hezekiah’s reign. By mentioning Hezekiah in the opening verse, the book gives readers a clue that helps confirm its historical setting.

Further supporting this dating is Zephaniah’s prophecy concerning the fall of Nineveh. Zephaniah 2:13 declares, “He will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria, leaving Nineveh utterly desolate and dry as the desert.” Historians date Nineveh’s destruction to around 612 BC, and Zephaniah must have written his prophecy before that event.

Although Zephaniah warns Judah about God’s judgment, his message also offers hope. He wrote, “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17). While God brings judgment on the nations, He disciplines His people to restore them, not to reject them forever.