2 Kings 1

AHAZIAH’S SICKNESS AND DEATH

1After Ahab’s death, Moab^a rebelled against Israel.^{b 2}Ahaziah^c had fallen through the latticed window of his upstairs room in Samaria^d and was injured. So he sent messengers, instructing them, “Go inquire of Baal-zebub,^Ae the god of Ekron,^f whether I will recover from this injury.”^g

³But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite,^h “Go and meet the messengers of the king of Samariaⁱ and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? ⁴Therefore, this is what the Lord says: You will not get up from your sickbed; you will certainly die.’ ” Then Elijah left.

⁵The messengers returned to the king, who asked them, “Why have you come back?”

⁶They replied, “A man came to meet us and said, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and declare to him, “ ‘This is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you’re sending these men to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore, you will not get up from your sickbed; you will certainly die.’ ” ”

⁷The king asked them, “What sort of man came up to meet you and spoke those words to you?”

⁸They replied, “A hairy man with a leather belt around his waist.”^j

He said, “It’s Elijah the Tishbite.”^k

⁹So King Ahaziah sent a captain with his fifty men^l to Elijah. When the captain went up to him, he was sitting on top of the hill. He announced, “Man of God,^m the king declares, ‘Come down!’ ”

¹⁰Elijah responded to the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.ⁿ

¹¹So the king sent another captain with his fifty men to Elijah. He took in the situation^B and announced, “Man of God, this is what the king says: ‘Come down immediately!’ ”

¹²Elijah responded, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” So a divine fire^C came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.

¹³Then the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. The third captain went up and fell on his knees in front of Elijah and begged him, “Man of God,^o please let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious to you.^{p 14}Already fire has come down from heaven and consumed the first two captains with their companies, but this time let my life be precious to you.”

¹⁵The angel of the Lord^q said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Don’t be afraid of him.”^r So he got up and went down with him to the king.

¹⁶Then Elijah said to King Ahaziah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel for you to inquire of his will?—you will not get up from your sickbed; you will certainly die.’ ”

¹⁷Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken. Since he had no son, Joram^s became king in his place. This happened in the second year of Judah’s King Jehoram^t son of Jehoshaphat.^{B 18}The rest of the events of Ahaziah’s reign, along with his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings.^u