God’s Judgment on Ahaziah

1 Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. ² Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upstairs room in Samaria, and he was injured. So he sent messengers and told them, “Go, inquire of Baal Zebub,^[a] the god of Ekron, whether I will survive this injury.”

³ But an angel of the Lord said to Elijah from Tishbe, “Get up. Go meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say to them, ‘Is there no God in Israel, so that you are going to seek out Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? ⁴ Therefore, this is what the Lord says. You will not get up from the bed you have gotten into. You will certainly die.’” So Elijah went.

⁵ The messengers returned to the king, so he said to them, “Why have you come back?”

⁶ They told him, “A man came up to meet us and told us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him: This is what the Lord says. Is there no God in Israel, so that you are sending men to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore, you will not get up from the bed you have gotten into. You will surely die.’”

⁷ He said to them, “How would you describe the man who came up to meet you and said these words to you?”

⁸ They told him, “He was dressed in clothing made of hair,^[b] with a leather belt tied around his waist.”

Then Ahaziah said, “That was Elijah from Tishbe!”