6-8. What was foretold at Zephaniah 1:4-6, and how was that prophecy fulfilled in ancient Judah?

⁶ Foretelling God’s acts against false worshipers, Zephaniah 1:4-6 says: “I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and I will cut off from this place the remaining ones of the Baal, the name of the foreign-god priests along with the priests,

⁷ Jehovah’s hand was stretched out against the people of Judah and Jerusalem. He was determined to cut off in death the worshipers of the Canaanite fertility god Baal. Various local deities were called Baals because their worshipers thought of them as possessing and having influence over particular localities. For instance, there was the Baal worshiped by Moabites and Midianites at Mount Peor. (Numbers 25:1, 3, 6) Throughout Judah, Jehovah would cut off the priests of Baal, as well as unfaithful priestly Levites who were violating God’s law by having fellowship with them.​—Exodus 20:2, 3.