2 Kings 1
1 After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel.
2 Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper room in Samaria and became ill. So he sent messengers and told them, “Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to find out whether I will recover from this illness.”
3 But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Get up, 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 consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?
4 Therefore, this is what the LORD says: ‘You will not get down from the bed you have climbed onto; you will surely die.’” And Elijah went.
5 The messengers returned to the king, and he asked them, “Why have you come back?”
6 They answered, “A man came up to meet us and said, ‘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 people to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore, you will not get down from the bed you have climbed onto; you will surely die.”’”
7 He asked them, “What did the man who came up to meet you and said these things look like?”
8 They answered, “He was a hairy man, with a leather belt around his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
9 Then the king sent a captain of fifty with his fifty men to Elijah. He went up to him, and there Elijah was, sitting on the top of the hill. The captain said to him, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!’”
10 Elijah answered the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.
11 The king sent another captain of fifty with his fifty men to Elijah. He spoke up and said to him, “Man of God, this is what the king says: ‘Come down at once!’”
12 Elijah answered them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.
13 The king sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty men. The third captain of fifty went up, approached Elijah, fell on his knees before him, and pleaded with him: “Man of God, please let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight.
14 Look, fire came down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty and their men. Now, please let my life be precious in your sight.”
15 The angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” He got up and went down with him to the king.
16 He said to the king, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You sent messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron. Is it because there is no God in Israel to consult his word? Therefore, you will not get down from the bed you have climbed onto; you will surely die.’”
17 He died, just as the LORD had spoken through Elijah. Jehoram succeeded him as king, in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, because Ahaziah had no son.
18 As for the rest of the acts of Ahaziah and what he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
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