2 Kings 1  Christian Standard Bible Anglicised

Ahaziah’s Sickness and Death

1 After Ahab’s death, Moab^(A) rebelled against Israel.^{(B) 2} Ahaziah^(C) had fallen through the latticed window of his upstairs room in Samaria^(D) and was injured. So he sent messengers, instructing them, ‘Go and enquire of Baal-zebub,^[a](E) the god of Ekron,^(F) whether I will recover from this injury.’^(G)

³ But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite,^(H) ‘Go and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria^(I) and say to them, “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to enquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? ⁴ Therefore, this is what the Lord says: You will not get up from your sick-bed; you will certainly die.” ’ Then Elijah left.

⁵ The messengers returned to the king, who asked them, ‘Why have you come back? ’

⁶ They replied, ‘A man came to meet us and said, “Go back to the king who sent you and declare to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you’re sending these men to enquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore, you will not get up from your sick-bed; you will certainly die.’ ” ’

⁷ The king asked them, ‘What sort of man came up to meet you and spoke those words to you? ’

⁸ They replied, ‘A hairy man with a leather belt round his waist.’^(J)

He said, ‘It’s Elijah the Tishbite.’^(K)

⁹ So King Ahaziah sent a captain with his fifty men^(L) to Elijah. When the captain went up to him, he was sitting on top of the hill. He announced, ‘Man of God,^(M) the king declares, “Come down! ” ’

¹⁰ Elijah responded to the captain, ‘If I am a man of God, may 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.^(N)

¹¹ So the king sent another captain with his fifty men to Elijah. He took in the situation^[b] and announced, ‘Man of God, this is what the king says: “Come down immediately! ” ’

¹² Elijah responded, ‘If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.’ So a divine fire^[c] came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.

¹³ Then the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. The third captain went up and fell on his knees in front of Elijah and begged him, ‘Man of God,^(O) please let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious to you.^{(P) 14} Already fire has come down from heaven and consumed the first two captains with their companies, but this time let my life be precious to you.’

¹⁵ The angel of the Lord^(Q) said to Elijah, ‘Go down with him. Don’t be afraid of him.’^(R) So he got up and went down with him to the king.

¹⁶ Then Elijah said to King Ahaziah, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Because you have sent messengers to enquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron – is it because there is no God in Israel for you to enquire of his will? – you will not get up from your sick-bed; you will certainly die.” ’

¹⁷ Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken. Since he had no son, Joram^[d](S) became king in his place. This happened in the second year of Judah’s King Jehoram^(T) son of Jehoshaphat.^{[e] 18} The rest of the events of Ahaziah’s reign, along with his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings.^[f](U)