²⁰ Then the Spirit of God ^[a]came upon ^(A)Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God: ^(B)‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? ^(C)Because you have forsaken the Lord, He also has forsaken you.’ ”

¹⁴ Then ^(A)the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly.

⁴¹ And Moses said, “Now why do you ^[a]transgress the command of the Lord? For this will not succeed.

^35 (A)that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, ^(B)from the blood of righteous Abel to ^(C)the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

The Reforms of Asa

15 Now ^(A)the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded. ² And he went out ^[a]to meet Asa, and said to him: “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. ^(B)The Lord is with you while you are with Him. ^(C)If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but ^(D)if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.

¹⁸ Then the Spirit ^[a]came upon ^(A)Amasai, chief of the captains, and he said:

So David received them, and made them captains of the troop.

¹¹ “But they refused to heed, ^(A)shrugged^[a] their shoulders, and ^(B)stopped^[b] their ears so that they could not hear. ¹² Yes, they made their ^(C)hearts like flint, ^(D)refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. ^(E)Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. ¹³ Therefore it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so ^(F)they called out and I would not listen,” says the Lord of hosts. ¹⁴ “But ^(G)I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they had not known. Thus the land became desolate after them, so that no one passed through or returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate.”

¹⁹ And it will be when you say, ^(A)‘Why does the Lord our God do all these things to us?’ then you shall answer them, ‘Just as you have ^(B)forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so ^(C)you shall serve aliens in a land that is not yours.’