Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Today we finished our 24th book of the Bible, it's written by a minor prophet Zephaniah

who is the great, great grandson of Judah's King Hezekiah, and because he's a descendant

of the king, that actually makes him a distant relative of King Josiah, who is the king

during the time that Zephaniah is writing this book.

You may remember King Josiah from yesterday, he's the king who sought God and his ways

and turned the places of idle worship into graveyard.

If there's one thing we can say about Zephaniah, it's that he does not hold back.

Right out of the gate in chapter 1 verse 2, he starts out with destruction.

He warns Judah about God's coming judgment in much the same way Isaiah did.

He calls them out for the ways they've mingled their worship of Yahweh with the worship

of false gods.

Anytime they felt God wasn't coming through for them, they didn't actually seek him

or pray about things they sought help from idols instead.

Hezekiah warns them that the day of God's judgment is coming.

God promises to punish not only those who are blatantly wicked and idolaters, but according

to 1-12, he promises judgment on the complacent too, those who are inattentive and inactive.

Interestingly, it seems like their passivity stems from a belief that God is

passive.

They think God won't really do anything about their actions, so they carelessly live

their lukewarm lives.

If you know someone who is a deist, this is a lot like what they believe.

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