2 Kings 1
1
1 MOAB REBELLED against Israel after the death of Ahab.
2 [King] Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria and lay sick. He sent messengers, saying, Go, ask Baal-zebub, the god of [Philistine] Ekron, if I shall recover from this illness.
3 But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king in Samaria and say to them, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?
4 Therefore the Lord says: You [Ahaziah] shall not leave the bed on which you lie, but shall surely die. And Elijah departed.
5 When the messengers returned to Ahaziah, he said, Why have you turned back?
6 They replied, A man came up to meet us who said, Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, Thus says the Lord: Is there no God in Israel that you send to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not leave the bed on which you lie, but shall surely die.
7 The king asked, What was the man like who came to meet you saying these things?
8 They answered, He was a hairy man with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.
9 Then the king sent to Elijah a captain of fifty men with his fifty [to seize him]. He found Elijah sitting on a hilltop and said, Man of God, the king says, Come down.
10 Elijah said to the captain of fifty, If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty. And fire fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.
11 Again King [Ahaziah] sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he said to Elijah, Man of God, the king has said, Come down quickly!
12 And Elijah answered, If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.
13 Ahaziah sent again a captain of a third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up and fell on his knees before Elijah and besought him and said to him, O man of God, I pray you, let my life and the lives of these fifty, your servants, be precious in your sight.
14 Behold, fire came down from heaven and burned up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties. Therefore let my life now be precious in your sight.
15 The angel of the Lord said to Elijah, Go down with him; do not be afraid of him. So he arose and went with him to the king.
16 Elijah said to [King] Ahaziah, Thus says the Lord: Since you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel of Whom to inquire His word? Therefore you shall not leave the bed on which you lie, but shall surely die.
17 So Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken. Joram [also a son of Ahab] reigned in Israel in his stead in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, because Ahaziah had no son [but his brother].
18 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
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2 Kings 1
1
Elijah Confronts King Ahaziah
1After King Ahab’s death, the land of Moab rebelled against Israel.
2One 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.
3But 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? 4Now, 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.
5When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you returned so soon?”
6They 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?”
8They replied, “He was a hairy man,#1:8 Or He was wearing clothing made of hair. and he wore a leather belt around his waist.”
“Elijah from Tishbe!” the king exclaimed.
9Then 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.”
10But 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.
11So 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.”
12Elijah 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.
13Once 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. 14See how the fire from heaven came down and destroyed the first two groups. But now please spare my life!”
15Then 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.
16And 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.”
17So Ahaziah died, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah. Since Ahaziah did not have a son to succeed him, his brother Joram#1:17 Hebrew Jehoram, a variant spelling of Joram. became the next king. This took place in the second year of the reign of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.
18The 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.
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