The Divided Kingdom
- When
- c. 640–620 BC, reign of Josiah
- Written by
- Zephaniah
- Chapters
- 3
The big idea
The great day of the Lord is near, a day of wrath on Judah and the nations. But a humble remnant will be saved, and God will rejoice over them.
Themes
- The day of the Lord
- The remnant
- Humility
- God’s joy over his people
Memory verse
The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
Key passages
- 1:14–18The great day
- 2:3Seek the LORD, all you meek
- 3:9–13A pure language
- 3:14–20He will rejoice over you
Links to other Scripture
- 2 Peter 3:10–13The day of the Lord
- Matthew 5:3–5Blessed are the meek
- Luke 15:7Joy in heaven
- Revelation 6:17The great day of their wrath
Read the text
Choose a chapter to read it here in the King James Version. Verses with a dotted underline have notes from Bible scholars. Tap one to open them.
Notes from
Chapters
King James text and the commentaries of Henry, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Gill, Clarke, Calvin, and Keil and Delitzsch are in the public domain. Tyndale Open Study Notes are used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license, from tyndaleopenresources.com. Texts were reformatted for this site.
Journal prompts
Keep a journal or notebook for your study. Write your answers there, in your own words.
- Where do you see Christ in this book?
- Zephaniah says to seek the LORD, all ye meek of the earth. What does meekness look like in a situation you are facing?
- The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will rejoice over thee with singing. How does it feel to think of God singing over you?
- Zephaniah warns about complacency, those who say in their hearts that God will do nothing. Where have you grown comfortable?
- In one sentence, this book is about…