Texts in Conversation
Zephaniah echoes details of creation and the flood from Genesis, invoking the language of birds, sea creatures, and humanity to warn that God will undo what was once ordered and return creation to a state of primordial chaos.
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Genesis 1:20
Hebrew Bible
18 to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day. 20 God said, “Let the water swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21 God created the great sea creatures and every living and moving thing with which the water swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Zephaniah 1:3
Hebrew Bible
1 This is the Lord’s message that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah during the time of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah: 2 “I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth2,” says the Lord. 3 “I will destroy people and animals; I will destroy the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea. (The idolatrous images of these creatures will be destroyed along with evil people.) I will remove humanity from the face of the earth,” says the Lord. 4 “I will attack Judah and all who live in Jerusalem. I will remove from this place every trace of Baal worship, as well as the very memory of the pagan priests. 5 I will remove those who worship the stars in the sky from their rooftops, those who swear allegiance to the Lord while taking oaths in the name of their ‘king,’
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... A number of scholars have recognized that in Zephaniah 1:2-3 there is allusion to the creation and flood accounts in Genesis, although some scholars explicitly deny this allusion. This section will argue that allusion to the creation-flood complex is strongly marked in these two verses ... The most immediate indicator that Zephaniah 1:2-3 is alluding to the flood account in Genesis is the threat of total destruction of all life: “I will destroy everything from upon the face of the earth, declaration of Yahweh” (Zephaniah 1:2). In the flood story this is precisely both God’s stated intention (Genesis 6:7, 13, 17; 7:4) and God’s action (Genesis 7:21-23). This reference to God in judgment destroying all life on earth brings to mind the flood story ... There is a great deal of specific vocabulary in the two verses of Zephaniah 1.2-3 that occurs in the flood story as well as the first creation account of Genesis 1:1-2:3 / 4:20 The shared vocabulary occurs in both the creation and flood accounts because these stories have already been fused into an intertextual unity ..."
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