2 Kings 1
New Living Translation
Elijah Confronts King Ahaziah
1 After King Ahab’s death, the land of Moab rebelled against Israel.
2 One day Israel’s new king, Ahaziah, fell through the latticework of an upper room at his palace in Samaria and was seriously injured. So he sent messengers to the temple of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, to ask whether he would recover.
3 But the angel of the Lord told Elijah, who was from Tishbe, “Go and confront the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is there no God in Israel? Why are you going to Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, to ask whether the king will recover? 4 Now, therefore, this is what the Lord says: You will never leave the bed you are lying on; you will surely die.’” So Elijah went to deliver the message.
5 When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you returned so soon?”
6 They replied, “A man came up to us and told us to go back to the king and give him this message. ‘This is what the Lord says: Is there no God in Israel? Why are you sending men to Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, to ask whether you will recover? Therefore, because you have done this, you will never leave the bed you are lying on; you will surely die.’”
7 “What sort of man was he?” the king demanded. “What did he look like?”
8 They replied, “He was a hairy man,[a] and he wore a leather belt around his waist.”
“Elijah from Tishbe!” the king exclaimed.
9 Then he sent an army captain with fifty soldiers to arrest him. They found him sitting on top of a hill. The captain said to him, “Man of God, the king has commanded you to come down with us.”
10 But Elijah replied to the captain, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and destroy you and your fifty men!” Then fire fell from heaven and killed them all.
11 So the king sent another captain with fifty men. The captain said to him, “Man of God, the king demands that you come down at once.”
12 Elijah replied, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and destroy you and your fifty men!” And again the fire of God fell from heaven and killed them all.
13 Once more the king sent a third captain with fifty men. But this time the captain went up the hill and fell to his knees before Elijah. He pleaded with him, “O man of God, please spare my life and the lives of these, your fifty servants. 14 See how the fire from heaven came down and destroyed the first two groups. But now please spare my life!”
15 Then the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, “Go down with him, and don’t be afraid of him.” So Elijah got up and went with him to the king.
16 And Elijah said to the king, “This is what the Lord says: Why did you send messengers to Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, to ask whether you will recover? Is there no God in Israel to answer your question? Therefore, because you have done this, you will never leave the bed you are lying on; you will surely die.”
17 So Ahaziah died, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah. Since Ahaziah did not have a son to succeed him, his brother Joram[b] became the next king. This took place in the second year of the reign of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.
18 The rest of the events in Ahaziah’s reign and everything he did are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Israel.
2 Kings 1
Common English Bible
Ahaziah’s death
1 After Ahab died, Moab rebelled against Israel.
2 Ahaziah fell out the window of his second-story room in Samaria and was hurt. He sent messengers, telling them, “Go to Ekron’s god Baal-zebub, and ask if I will recover from this injury.”
3 But the Lord’s messenger said to Elijah from Tishbe, “Go, intercept the messengers of Samaria’s king, and ask them, ‘Is it because there’s no God in Israel that you are going to question Ekron’s god Baal-zebub? 4 This is what the Lord says: You will never get out of the bed you are lying in; you will die for sure!’” So Elijah set off.
5 The messengers returned to Ahaziah. He said to them, “Why have you come back?”
6 They said to him, “A man met us and said, ‘Go back to the king who sent you. Say to him, This is what the Lord says: Is it because there’s no God in Israel that you’ve come to question Ekron’s god Baal-zebub? Because of this, you will never get out of the bed you are lying in; you will die for sure!’”
7 Ahaziah said to them, “Describe the man who met you and said these things.”
8 They said to him, “He wore clothes made of hair[a] with a leather belt around his waist.”
Ahaziah said, “That was Elijah from Tishbe.”
9 So Ahaziah sent out a commander with fifty soldiers. The commander met up with Elijah while he was sitting on a hilltop. The commander said, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!’”
10 Elijah replied to the commander of the fifty soldiers, “If I really am a man of God, may fire come down from the sky and burn up you and your fifty soldiers.” Then fire came down from the sky and burned up the commander and his fifty soldiers.
11 Ahaziah then sent another commander with fifty soldiers. The commander said to Elijah, “Man of God, this is what the king says: ‘Hurry and come down!’”
12 Elijah said to them, “If I really am a man of God, may fire come down from the sky and burn up you and your fifty soldiers.” Then God’s fire came down from the sky and burned up the commander and his fifty soldiers.
13 For a third time Ahaziah sent a commander with fifty soldiers. So the third commander arrived. He kneeled before Elijah and begged him, “Man of God! Please have some regard for my life and the lives of these fifty soldiers who are your servants. 14 Look, fire came from the sky and burned up the two earlier commanders and their troops of fifty soldiers. Please have regard for my life.”
15 Then the Lord’s messenger said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Don’t be afraid of him.” So Elijah set out to go with him to the king.
16 Elijah said to the king: “This is what the Lord says: Why did you send messengers to question Ekron’s god Baal-zebub? Is there no God in Israel whose word you could seek? Because of this, you won’t ever get out of the bed you are lying in; you’ll die for sure!” 17 So Ahaziah died in agreement with the Lord’s word that Elijah had spoken.
Because Ahaziah had no son, Joram[b] became king after him in the second year of Judah’s King Jehoram, who was Jehoshaphat’s son. 18 The rest of Ahaziah’s deeds, aren’t they written in the official records of Israel’s kings?
Footnotes
- 2 Kings 1:8 Or He was a hairy man.
- 2 Kings 1:17 Heb Jehoram; the king’s name is variously spelled in either long Jehoram or short Joram form.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible