Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
Jehovah has concealed, or Jehovah of darkness. ) The son of Cushi, and great-grandson of Hezekiah, and the ninth in the order of the minor prophets. C. 641-610), and was contemporary with Jeremiah, with whom he had much in common. The book of his prophecies consists of: (a) An introduction (1:1-6), announcing the judgment of the world, and the judgment upon Israel, because of their transgressions. (b) The description of the judgment (1:7-18). (c) An exhortation to seek God while there is still time (2:1-3). (d) The announcement of judgment on the heathen (2:4-15).
(e) The hopeless misery of Jerusalem (3:1-7). (f) The promise of salvation (3:8-20). ) The son of Maaseiah, the “second priest” in the reign of Zedekiah, often mentioned in Jeremiah as having been sent from the king to inquire (Jer. 21:1) regarding the coming woes which he had denounced, and to entreat the prophet’s intercession that the judgment threatened might be averted (Jer. 29:25, 26, 29; 37:3; 52:24). He, along with some other captive Jews, was put to death by the king of Babylon “at Riblah in the land of Hamath” (2 Kings 25:21).
) A Kohathite ancestor of the prophet Samuel (1 Chr. 6:36). ) The father of Josiah, the priest who dwelt in Jerusalem when Darius issued the decree that the temple should be rebuilt (Zech. 6:10).
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863)
(hidden by Jehovah).
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898) & Schaff's Bible Dictionary
ZEPHANI'AH (Jehovah hides). The ninth of the minor prophets, was the son of Cushi, and lived in the days of Josiah. c. 020 and 609. It is mainly designed to excite the Jewish nation to repentance, in view of threatened judgments, and to comfort the people of God with promises of the final triumph of righteousness.
The description of the judgment in Zeph 1:14-15, "The great day of Jehovah is near" (in the Latin version Dies irae, dies illa), has furnished the keynote to the sublimest hymn of the Middle Ages, the Dies Irae of Thomas a Celano (1250) - so often translated, but never equalled - which brings before us, with most thrilling effect, the final judgment as an awful impending reality. A priest in the reign of Zedekiah. 2 Kgs 25:18-21; Jer 21:1; Jer 29:25-29; Job 37:3; Jer 52:24-27. A Kohathite Levite. 1 Chr 6:36. The father of Josiah. Zech 6:10.
Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869)
the Lord is my secret