Ahaziah’s Messengers Meet Elijah

1 Now ^(A)Moab revolted against Israel after the death of Ahab. ² And Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber, which was in Samaria, and became ill. So he sent messengers and said to them, “Go, ^(B)inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, ^(C)whether I will live from this sickness.” ³ But the angel of ^[a]Yahweh said to ^(D)Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of ^(E)Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’ ⁴ Now therefore thus says Yahweh, ‘^[b](F)You shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’” Then Elijah departed.

⁵ So the messengers returned to him, and he said to them, “^[c]Why have you returned?” ⁶ And they said to him, “A man came up to meet us and said to us, ‘Go, return to the king who sent you and say to him, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending ^(G)to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore ^[d]you shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but shall surely die.’”’” ⁷ And he said to them, “What ^[e]kind of man was he who came up to meet you and spoke these words to you?” ⁸ And they said to him, “^(H)He was a hairy man with a leather girdle girded about his loins.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”

⁹ Then the king ^(I)sent to him a commander of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him, and behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill. And he said to him, “O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’” ¹⁰ And Elijah answered and spoke to the commander of fifty, “If I am a man of God, ^(J)let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” ^(K)Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

¹¹ So he again sent to him another commander of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and spoke to him, “O man of God, thus says the king, ‘Come down quickly.’” ¹² And Elijah answered and spoke to them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

¹³ So he ^(L)again sent the commander of a third fifty with his fifty. Then the third commander of fifty went up and came and bowed down on his knees before Elijah, and he begged him and said to him, “O man of God, please let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight. ¹⁴ Behold, fire came down from heaven and consumed the first two commanders of fifty with their fifties; but now let my ^[f]life be precious in your sight.” ^15 (M)Then the angel of Yahweh spoke to Elijah, “Go down with him; ^(N)do not be afraid of him.” So he arose and went down with him to the king. ¹⁶ Then he spoke to him, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Because you have sent messengers ^(O)to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of His word?—therefore ^[g]you shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but shall surely die.’”

Jehoram Reigns over Israel

¹⁷ So Ahaziah died according to the word of Yahweh which Elijah had spoken. And because he had no son, Jehoram became king in his place ^(P)in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. ¹⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?