2 Kings 1:9–16

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.’ ”