Elijah Rebukes King Ahaziah

1 Moab rebelled against Israel^[a] after Ahab died. ² Meanwhile, Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice in his upper room in Samaria and lay injured. He sent messengers to Ekron with these orders: “Go and consult with Ekron’s god Baal-zebub to find out^[b] if I’m going to recover from this injury.”^[c]

³ But the angel of the Lord spoke to Elijah the foreigner,^[d] “Get up and go meet the messengers from the king of Samaria. Ask them ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you’re going to consult with Ekron’s god Baal-zebub? ⁴ Now therefore this is what the Lord says: “You won’t be getting up from that bed of yours on which you’re lying. You will most certainly die!”’” So Elijah got up and^[e] went.

⁵ The messengers returned to the king and he asked them, “What’s this? You’ve come back?”

⁶ They replied, “We met a man who told us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and ask him, “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you’re going to consult with Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you won’t be getting up from that bed on which you’re lying. You will most certainly die!”’”

⁷ He told them, “Describe the man who met you and told you these things.”

⁸ They answered, “The man was a hairy fellow. He wore a leather sash around his waist.”

The king^[f] responded, “It’s Elijah, that foreigner!”^[g]