2 KingsChapter 1

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¹After Ahab died, the people of Moab rebelled against Israel. ²Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upstairs room in Samaria. He was hurt. So he sent messengers and told them, "Go ask Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, if I will get well from this injury." ³But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, "Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria. Ask them, 'Is there no God in Israel? Is that why you are going to ask Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?' ⁴So this is what the LORD says: 'You will not get up from the bed you are lying on. You will surely die.'" Then Elijah left. ⁵The messengers went back to the king. He asked them, "Why have you come back?" ⁶They answered, "A man came up to meet us. He said, 'Go back to the king who sent you. Tell him that this is what the LORD says: Is there no God in Israel? Is that why you are sending these men to ask Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? So you will not get up from the bed you are lying on. You will surely die.'" ⁷The king asked them, "What kind of man came up to meet you and told you this?" ⁸"He was a hairy man," they answered. "He had a leather belt around his waist." The king said, "It was Elijah the Tishbite." ⁹Then King Ahaziah sent a captain to Elijah with his group of fifty men. Elijah was sitting on top of a hill. The captain went up to him and said, "Man of God, the king says, 'Come down!'" ¹⁰Elijah answered the captain, "If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and burn up you and your fifty men." Then fire came down from heaven. It burned up the captain and his fifty men. ¹¹So the king sent another captain to Elijah with his fifty men. This captain said to Elijah, "Man of God, the king says, 'Come down right now!'" ¹²Again Elijah answered, "If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and burn up you and your fifty men." Then the fire of God came down from heaven. It burned up the captain and his fifty men. ¹³So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees in front of Elijah. He begged him, "Man of God, please let my life be precious to you. Let the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious too. ¹⁴Look, fire has come down from heaven. It burned up the first two captains and all their fifty men. But now, please let my life be precious to you." ¹⁵Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, "Go down with him. Don't be afraid of him." So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king. ¹⁶Elijah said to King Ahaziah, "This is what the LORD says: Is there really no God in Israel for you to ask for his word? Is that why you sent messengers to ask Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? So you will not get up from the bed you are lying on. You will surely die." ¹⁷So Ahaziah died, just as the LORD had said through Elijah. Ahaziah had no son. So Jehoram became king in his place. This was in the second year that Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat ruled over Judah. ¹⁸The rest of what Ahaziah did, and all he achieved, is written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.