¹⁶ He told the king, “This is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no God in Israel for you to consult that you have sent messengers^(A) to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Because you have done this, you will never leave^(B) the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!”

⁶ “A man came to meet us,” they replied. “And he said to us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, “This is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not leave^(A) the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!”’”

² Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers,^(A) saying to them, “Go and consult Baal-Zebub,^(B) the god of Ekron,^(C) to see if I will recover^(D) from this injury.”

³ But the angel^(E) of the Lord said to Elijah^(F) the Tishbite, “Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel^(G) that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’

¹⁴ The towns from Ekron^(A) to Gath that the Philistines had captured from Israel were restored to Israel, and Israel delivered the neighboring territory from the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.^(B)

¹⁰ So they sent the ark of God to Ekron.^(A)

As the ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought the ark of the god of Israel around to us to kill us and our people.”