2 Kings
Chapter 1
1 Moab fought against Israel after Ahab died.
2 Ahaziah fell through a grid in his upstairs room in Samaria and was injured. He sent messengers and told them, “Go, ask Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, if I will get better from my illness.”
3 The angel said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Get up, go to meet the king of Samaria’s messengers, and ask them, ‘Do you look for advice from Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, because you think there is no God in Israel?’”
4 So now, God says, “You will not get up from the bed you are lying on; you will certainly die.” Then Elijah left.
5 When the messengers returned to him, he asked them, “Why have you come back?”
6 They told him, “A man came to meet us and he said, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, “God says, ‘Are you asking Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, for help because there’s no God in Israel? You won’t get up from the bed you’re lying on; you will definitely die.’”’”
7 He asked them, “What kind of man met you and spoke these words to you?”
8 They replied, “He was a hairy man, wearing a leather belt around his waist.” And he said, “That’s Elijah the Tishbite.”
9 The king sent a leader of fifty men with his fifty to him. He approached and saw him sitting on the hilltop. He said to him, “Man of God, the king orders you to come down.”
10 Elijah replied to the officer of fifty, “If I am a man of God, may fire fall from the sky and burn you and your fifty men.” And fire fell from the sky and burned him and his fifty men.
11 Once more, he sent another captain with his fifty men. He spoke to him, saying, “Man of God, the king orders you to come down at once.”
12 Elijah replied, “If I am a man of God, may fire fall from the sky and burn you and your fifty men.” And God’s fire fell from the sky and burned him and his fifty men.
13 He sent another leader of fifty with his soldiers. This third leader went to Elijah, knelt down before him, begged him, and said, “Please, man of God, value my life and the lives of these fifty men serving you.”
14 Look, fire came down from the sky and burned up the two leaders and their groups of fifty; so now, please value my life.
15 God’s angel said to Elijah, “Go with him. Don’t be afraid of him.” So Elijah got up and went with him to the king.
16 He told him, “God says, ‘Because you sent messengers to ask Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, instead of asking me, isn’t it because you think there’s no God in Israel to seek advice from? So, you won’t leave the bed you’re lying on; you will definitely die.’”
17 He died as God told through Elijah. Jehoram became king after him in the second year of Jehoram, Jehoshaphat’s son, king of Judah, because he had no son.
18 The other things Ahaziah did are written in the history book of Israel’s kings, aren’t they?