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.”