Tzefaniah HaNavi
c. 655 BCE–c. 600 BCE · Biblical era · Jerusalem
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Tzefaniah son of Kushi (Zephaniah) prophesied in Jerusalem during the reign of King Yoshiyahu (Josiah). His superscription traces his ancestry back four generations to a 'Hezekiah' (Zephaniah 1:1), an unusually long pedigree that many readers take to mean King Hezekiah, though the text does not say so. He condemns Baal worship and pagan priests still active 'in this place' (Zephaniah 1:4) and names the city's own quarters, the Fish Gate, the Mishneh and the Machtesh, in his warnings (Zephaniah 1:10-11). His portrait of 'the great day of the LORD' as a day of wrath and darkness (Zephaniah 1:14-15) is among the Bible's most forceful. The book ends in hope: God will give the peoples 'pure speech', so that all may call on the LORD's name and serve Him together (Zephaniah 3:9). Seder Olam lists him among the prophets of the years before the destruction.
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JerusalemירושליםJudea
What they did here
Tzefaniah prophesied in Josiah's reign (Zephaniah 1:1) against 'all who dwell in Jerusalem' (Zephaniah 1:4), naming the Fish Gate, the Mishneh and the Machtesh quarters of the city (Zephaniah 1:10-11).
Jerusalem in this era
In the Hebrew Bible, David takes Jerusalem from the Jebusites and makes it his capital, Solomon builds the First Temple there, and Nehemiah rebuilds its walls after the return from Babylon; in 164 BCE Judah Maccabee rededicated the Temple, the origin of Hanukkah. Archaeologists debate how large the city was in the 10th century BCE; it is well attested as the capital of Judah by the 8th century BCE, and Babylon destroyed it in 586 BCE.
About Jerusalem
Jerusalem, in the Judean hills, is a sacred city for Jews, Christians and Muslims. In the Hebrew Bible it is King David's capital and the site of Solomon's Temple; the First Temple was destroyed by Babylon in 586 BCE and the Second Temple, rebuilt from about 516 BCE, by Rome in 70 CE. Christians revere it as the place of Jesus's crucifixion and, in their faith, his resurrection; in Islamic tradition it is the destination of the Prophet Muhammad's Night Journey and the first direction of prayer, marked by the Dome of the Rock (691-92) and al-Aqsa Mosque. It was ruled in turn by Rome and Byzantium, by Muslim dynasties from 638, by Crusaders (1099-1187), Ayyubids, Mamluks and Ottomans (1517-1917), and by Britain. Divided between Israel and Jordan from 1948 to 1967, it has since been under Israeli control. Israel regards the city as its capital; Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state; most countries do not recognize sovereignty over the whole city.
In Jerusalem at the same time
Nachum HaNavi, Chuldah HaNeviah, King of Judah, Gedaliah ben Achikam
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Tzefaniah HaNavi’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
Nachum HaNavi, Chuldah HaNeviah, King of Judah, Gedaliah ben Achikam
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Tzefaniah HaNavi’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn from recorded birth and death years (reign years for rulers whose lives are undated); where only one end of a life is known, a span of about 70 years is assumed.
Jewish world
- Menashe ben Chizkiyahu (Manasseh)· 709 BCE–643 BCE
- Yirmiyahu ben Chilkiyahu (Jeremiah)· 650 BCE–570 BCE
- Chavakuk (Habakkuk)· 635 BCE–580 BCE
- Baruch ben Neriyah (Baruch the Scribe)· b. 630 BCE
- Yechezkel ben Buzi (Ezekiel)· 622 BCE–570 BCE
- Daniel (in the lions' den)· 620 BCE–538 BCE
- Tzidkiyahu ben Yoshiyahu (Zedekiah)· b. 618 BCE
- Ovadiah (Obadiah)· 610 BCE–540 BCE
Graeco-Roman world
Hindu world
Mesopotamian world
Rulers & leaders
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.