2 Kings (4 Kings)
Chapter 1 of 25
1After Ahab died, Moab rebelled. 2Ahaziah fell ill and lay in his upper room in Samaria. He sent messengers and told them, "Go and ask Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, for me whether I will recover from this illness." So they went to ask on his behalf. 3Then the angel of the LORD called Elijah the Tishbite and said to him, "Get up, go and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, 'Is there no God in Israel, that you are going to ask Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Is it not so?' 4This is what the LORD says: 'You will not get up from the bed you are lying on. You will surely die there.'" So Elijah went and told them this. 5The messengers returned to the king, and he asked them, "What brought you back?" 6They said to him, "A man met us and told us, 'Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, "This is what the LORD says: Is there no God in Israel, that you go to ask Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Is it not so? You will not get up from the bed you are lying on. You will surely die."'" 7He asked them, "What did the man look like who met you and told you these things?" 8They told him, "He was a hairy man, with a leather belt around his waist." He said, "That is Elijah the Tishbite." 9So he sent fifty men with their captain to summon him. They went to him and found him sitting on the top of a hill. The captain said to him, "Man of God, the king summons you. Come down." 10Elijah answered the captain, "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. 11The king sent another fifty men with their captain. The captain called to him, "Man of God, the king summons you. Come down at once." 12Elijah answered him, "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. 13The king sent a third group of fifty men with their captain. This third captain went up to him, knelt down before Elijah, and said to him, "Man of God, please, let my life and the lives of your servants be precious in your sight. 14Look, fire came down from heaven and consumed the first two captains and their fifty men each. But now let my life be precious in your sight." 15Then the angel of the LORD spoke to Elijah and said, "Go down with him, and do not be afraid of them." So Elijah got up, went down with him, and went to the king. 16Elijah spoke to the king and said, "This is what the LORD says: 'Why did you send to Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Is it not so? You will not get up from the bed you are lying on, for you will surely die.'" 17So he died, according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken to him. 18All the other events of Ahaziah's reign and everything he did are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. 19Joram son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned twelve years. He did evil in the sight of the LORD, though not like his brothers or his mother. He removed the image of Baal that his father had made and broke it up. Yet he followed the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who led Israel into sin, and did not turn from them. So the anger of the LORD burned against the house of Ahab. ‹
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2 Kings (4 Kings) · Chapter 1 of 25