I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests;
The Prophet explains still more clearly why he directed his discourse in the last verse against the beasts of the earth and the birds of heaven, even for this end — that the Jews might understand that God was angry with them. I will stretch forth, he says, my hand on Judah and on Jerusalem.
That Zephaniah descended from King Hezekiah gave him standing to reprove the king's own children. When magistrates and ministers work together in reformation, removing idolatry as both did under Josiah, the work prospers; when they do not, corruption returns even in a godly reign.
AI summary
Commenting on Zephaniah 1:1-6
I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah Under whom the tribe of Benjamin is comprehended, which are only designed; the ten tribes having been carried captive in Hezekiah's time many years before this: not "to Judah", as beckoning to come and hearken to him, as calling to repentance and reformation; this he had done, but was rejected, and therefore determines to stretch out...