1 Zephaniah was in the time of Jeremiah the prophet, for he prophesied under King Josiah, as Jeremiah's title indicates. Therefore he prophesied the same thing that Jeremiah prophesied, that Jerusalem and Judah should be destroyed and the people led away because of their impenitent evil life.
(2) He does not name the king of Babylon, who would cause them such distress and imprisonment as Jeremiah does, but he speaks plainly that God would bring such calamity and plague upon them, that he might move them to repentance. For all the prophets have never been able to persuade this people that God was angry with them. They have always relied on the glory that they are and were called God's people. And whoever preached that God was angry with them had to be a false prophet and die, for they would not believe that God would leave His people like this, just as all the heretics are now scolded.
and kill those who teach that the church is wrong and sinning, and that God will punish them.
(3) He prophesied not only against Judah, but also against all the surrounding countries and neighbors, such as the Philistines, Moab, even the Moors and Assyria; for the king of Babylon was to be a rod of God over all the countries.
In the third chapter, he prophesies gloriously and clearly about the joyful and blessed kingdom of Christ, which is to be spread throughout the world. And even though he is a minor prophet, he speaks more about Christ than many other great prophets, even about Jeremiah. So that he might again comfort the people abundantly, so that they would not despair of God in the Babylonian prison and misfortune, as if he had rejected them eternally, but would be sure that after such punishment they would again come to grace, and receive the promised Savior Christ with his glorious kingdom.