2 Chronicles 24:20

20 Then the spirit of God enwrapped Zechariah the son of the priest Jehoiada. Standing before the people, he told them, "This is what God says: Why do you defy the LORD's commands and keep yourselves from prospering? Because you have abandoned the LORD, he has abandoned you!"

2 Chronicles 24:20 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 24:20

And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Zechariah the son of
Jehoiada the priest
The spirit of prophecy, as the Targum; he was moved and influenced by it to speak what is after related:

which stood above the people;
in a desk, or sort of pulpit, in which the priests stood when they taught the people, that they might be the better heard, like that which Ezra used, ( Nehemiah 8:4 )

and said unto them, thus saith God;
being moved and directed by his Spirit, he spake in his name:

why transgress ye the command of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper?
by committing idolatry, than which nothing could more hinder prosperity, both in things spiritual and temporal, in soul and body:

because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you;
because they had forsaken the worship of God, as the Targum, God had forsaken them, and was about to give them up into the hand of their enemies.

2 Chronicles 24:20 In-Context

18 They abandoned the temple of the LORD, their ancestors' God, and worshipped sacred poles and idols. Anger came upon Judah and Jerusalem as a consequence of their sin,

19 and though God sent prophets to them to bring them back to the LORD and to warn them, they refused to listen.

20 Then the spirit of God enwrapped Zechariah the son of the priest Jehoiada. Standing before the people, he told them, "This is what God says: Why do you defy the LORD's commands and keep yourselves from prospering? Because you have abandoned the LORD, he has abandoned you!"

21 But the people plotted against Zechariah, and at the king's command stoned him to death in the courtyard of the LORD's temple.

22 King Jehoash failed to remember the loyalty that Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, had shown him and murdered Jehoida's son, who cried out as he lay dying, "May the LORD see and seek vengeance!"