< 2 Kings 1 >
1 And Moab rebelled against Israel, after the death of Achab.
After Ahab died, Moab rebelled against Israel.
2 And Ochozias fell through the lattices of his upper chamber which he had in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, saying to them: Go, consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, whether I shall recover of this my illness.
Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice-work of his upper room in Samaria and had hurt himself badly. So he sent out messengers, telling them: “Go and ask Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will get better from this injury.”
3 And an angel of the Lord spoke to Elias the Thesbite, saying: Arise, and go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them: Is there not a God in Israel, that ye go to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron?
But the angel of the Lord told Elijah the Tishbite, “Go and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there's no God in Israel that you're going to ask advice from Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’
4 Wherefore thus saith the Lord: From the bed, on which thou art gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die. And Elias went away.
So this is the Lord's answer: ‘You will not leave the bed on which you are lying. You're definitely going to die.’” And Elijah left.
5 And the messengers turned back to Ochozias. And he said to them: Why are you come back?
The messengers returned to the king, and he asked them, “Why have you come back?”
6 But they answered him: A man met us, and said to us: Go, and return to the king, that sent you, and you shall say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Is it because there was no God in Israel that thou sendest to Beelzebub the god of Accaron? Therefore thou shalt not come down from the bed, on which thou art gone up, but then shalt surely die.
“A man came and met us,” they replied. “He told us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you, and tell him, This is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to ask advice from Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? As a result you will not leave the bed on which you are lying. You're definitely going to die.’”
7 And he said to them: What manner of man was he who met you, and spoke these words?
“What was he like, this man who met you and told you all this?” the king asked.
8 But they said: A hairy man with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said: It is Elias the Thesbite.
“He was a hairy man wearing a leather belt around his waist,” they replied. “It's Elijah the Tishbite,” said the king.
9 And he sent to him a captain of fifty, and the fifty men that were under him. And he went up to him, and as he was sitting on the top of a hill, said to him: Man of God, the king hath commanded that thou come down.
Then the king sent an army captain with fifty men to Elijah. The captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and told him, “Man of God, the king orders you, ‘Come down!’”
10 And Elias answering, said to the captain of fifty: If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee, and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him, and the fifty that were with him.
Elijah replied to the captain, “If I am a man of God, then let fire fall from heaven and burn up you and your fifty men.” Fire fell from heaven and burned up the captain and his men.
11 And again he sent to him another captain of fifty men, and his fifty with him. And he said to him: Man of God, thus saith the king: Make haste and come down.
So the king sent another captain with his fifty men to Elijah. The captain said to Elijah, “Man of God, the king orders you, Come down immediately!”
12 Elias answering, said: If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And fire came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
Elijah replied to the captain, “If I am a man of God, then let fire fall from heaven and burn up you and your fifty men.” Fire fell from heaven and burned up the captain and his men.
13 Again he sent a third captain of fifty men, and the fifty that were with him. And when he was come, he fell upon his knees, before Elias, and besought him and said: Man of God, despise not my life, and the lives of thy servants that are with me.
So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. The third captain went up, kneeled before Elijah, and pleaded with him, “Man of God, please value my life and the lives of these fifty men.
14 Behold fire came down from heaven, and consumed the two first captains of fifty men, and the fifties that were with them: but now I beseech thee to spare my life.
Yes, fire has fallen from heaven and burned up the first two captains of fifty, along with all their men. But now please value my life!”
15 And the angel of the Lord spoke to Elias, saying: Go down with him, fear not. He arose therefore, and went down with him to the king,
Then the angel of the Lord told Elijah, “Go down with him. You don't have to be afraid of him.” So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.
16 And said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Because thou hast sent messengers to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron, as though there were not a God in Israel, of whom thou mightest inquire the word; therefore from the bed on which thou art gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die.
Elijah told the king, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Is it because there's no God in Israel for you to consult that you have sent messengers to ask advice of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? As a result you will not leave the bed on which you are lying. You're definitely going to die.”
17 So he died according to the word of the Lord which Elias spoke, and Joram his brother reigned in his stead, in the second year of Joram the son of Josaphat king of Juda: because he had no son.
Ahaziah died just as the Lord had said through Elijah. Because he had no son, Joram succeeded him as king in the second year of the reign of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.
18 But the rest of the acts of Ochozias which he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?
The rest of what happened in Ahaziah's reign and what he did are recorded in the Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.