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

The king[a] responded, “It’s Elijah, that foreigner!”[b]

Fire from Heaven Destroys the King’s Henchmen

So the king sent out 50 men, along with their leader.[c] The leader[d] approached Elijah, who was sitting at the top of a hill. He ordered Elijah,[e] “Hey, man of God! The king orders you to come down!”

10 Elijah responded to the leader who was in charge of the 50 soldiers, “So I’m a man of God, am I? If so, may fire[f] fall from heaven and devour you and your 50 soldiers…”[g] Just then, fire fell from heaven and devoured that leader and his 50 soldiers.[h]

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 1:8 Lit. He
  2. 2 Kings 1:8 Lit. Elijah the Tishbite; or Elijah, the sojourner
  3. 2 Kings 1:9 Lit. a captain of fifty; and so through v. 14; modern equivalent to a Second Lieutenant commanding a platoon of four twelve-member squads
  4. 2 Kings 1:9 Lit. He
  5. 2 Kings 1:9 Lit. him
  6. 2 Kings 1:10 MT word fire sounds like MT word man
  7. 2 Kings 1:10 The Heb. lacks soldiers
  8. 2 Kings 1:10 The Heb. lacks soldiers

They replied, “He had a garment of hair[a](A) and had a leather belt around his waist.”

The king said, “That was Elijah the Tishbite.”

Then he sent(B) to Elijah a captain(C) with his company of fifty men. The captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!’”

10 Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then fire(D) fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 1:8 Or He was a hairy man