Go to Related Reading
About this book

Apocalypse of Zephaniah

About this book

Zephaniah's Journey with the Angel

Chapter 2

1 Then I went with the angel of the Lord, and he led me over my whole city. No one was in front of my eyes. 2 Then I saw two men walking together on a road, and I watched them as they talked.⁠ 3 I also saw two women grinding together at a mill, and I watched them as they talked. 4 And I saw two on their bed … 5 And I saw the whole inhabited world below, like a drop of water hanging from a bucket as it comes up from a well. 6 I said to the angel of the Lord, "Is there no darkness or night in this place?"⁠ 7 He answered me, "No. For in the place where the righteous and the holy ones are, there is no darkness; they are always in the light."⁠ 8 And I saw all the souls of people who are being punished. 9 I groaned to the Lord Almighty, "God, if you stay with the holy ones, you will also be patient with the world and with these souls who are in this punishment."

Texts in conversation

Compare Apocalypse of Zephaniah 2:6 and Revelation 22:5

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

Share:

Summary

In Revelation, the New Jerusalem has no night and needs no lamp or sun, with God as its light. The Apocalypse of Zephaniah echoes a similar tradition, with an angel explaining that the righteous always live in light, free of any darkness.

Passages

Apocalypse of Zephaniah 2:6

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 Then I went with the angel of the Lord, and he led me over my whole city. No one was in front of my eyes. 2 Then I saw two men walking together on a road, and I watched them as they talked. 3 I also saw two women grinding together at a mill, and I watched them as they talked. 4 And I saw two on their bed … 5 And I saw the whole inhabited world below, like a drop of water hanging from a bucket as it comes up from a well. 6 I said to the angel of the Lord, "Is there no darkness or night in this place?" 7 He answered me, "No. For in the place where the righteous and the holy ones are, there is no darkness; they are always in the light." 8 And I saw all the souls of people who are being punished.
100 BCE – 175 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Apocalypse of Zephaniah

Revelation 22:5

New Testament
3 And there will no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and the Lamb will be in the city. His servants will worship him, 4 and they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 Night will be no more, and they will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever. 6 Then the angel said to me, “These words are reliable and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must happen soon.” 7 (Look ! I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy expressed in this book.)
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

References

"... Regardless of the definition put forward for 'apocalyptic' or 'apocalypse' (in the case of the SBL Group), and despite the differing lists of defining characteristics of the genre, the central methodological impulse since Lücke may be stated this way: 'Apocalypse' is a literary category that include both biblical and non-biblical texts which share certain well-defined characteristics that set them apart as a recognizable, autonomous literary corpus. The SBL Group's field of vision included the following apocalypses: 1 Enoch, Daniel, 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch, the Apocalypse of Abraham, 3 Baruch, 2 Enoch, the Testament of Levi 2-5, the Apocalypse of Zephaniah, Jubilees (with qualifications), the Testament of Abraham, certain Greco-Roman texts, and many Gnostic and Christian works. All of these writings, in their essence, are believed to resemble the Book of Revelation, which is seen as the paradigm of the genre. (For Collins, 'apocalypses' are 'literary compositions which resemble the Book of Revelation, i.e., secret divine disclosures about the end of the world and the heavenly state') ..."
Omele Kevin Burrell, “Conceptualizing Historical Periodization in the Apocalypse: The Canonical Shaping of the Beast with Seven Heads and Ten Horns” (MA diss., Trinity Western University, 2015), 64–65.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Your feedback

Apocalypse of Zephaniah 2:6 and Revelation 22:5

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library