< 2 Kings 1 >
1 And Moab transgresses against Israel after the death of Ahab,
2 and Ahaziah falls through the lattice in his upper chamber that [is] in Samaria, and is sick, and sends messengers, and says to them, “Go, inquire of Ba‘al-Zebub god of Ekron if I recover from this sickness.”
3 And a messenger of YHWH has spoken to Elijah the Tishbite, “Rise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and speak to them, Is it because there is not a God in Israel—you are going to inquire of Ba‘al-Zebub god of Ekron?
4 And therefore, thus said YHWH: The bed to where you have gone up, you do not come down from it, for you certainly die”; and Elijah goes on.
5 And the messengers return to him, and he says to them, “What [is] this—you have turned back!”
6 And they say to him, “A man has come up to meet us and says to us, Go, return to the king who sent you, and you have said to him, Thus said YHWH: Is it because there is not a God in Israel—you are sending to inquire of Ba‘al-Zebub god of Ekron? Therefore, the bed to where you have gone up, you do not come down from it, for you certainly die.”
7 And he says to them, “What [is] the fashion of the man who has come up to meet you, and speaks these words to you?”
8 And they say to him, “A hairy man, and a girdle of skin girt around his loins”; and he says, “He [is] Elijah the Tishbite.”
9 And he sends to him a head of fifty and his fifty, and he goes up to him (and behold, he is sitting on the top of the hill), and he speaks to him, “O man of God, the king has spoken, Come down.”
10 And Elijah answers and speaks to the head of the fifty, “And if I [am] a man of God, fire comes down from the heavens and consumes you and your fifty”; and fire comes down from the heavens and consumes him and his fifty.
11 And he turns and sends to him another head of fifty and his fifty, and he answers and speaks to him, “O man of God, thus said the king: Hurry, come down.”
12 And Elijah answers and speaks to them, “If I [am] a man of God, fire comes down from the heavens and consumes you and your fifty”; and fire of God comes down from the heavens and consumes him and his fifty.
13 And he turns and sends a third head of fifty and his fifty, and the third head of fifty goes up, and comes in, and bows on his knees before Elijah, and makes supplication to him, and speaks to him, “O man of God, please let my soul and the soul of your servants—these fifty—be precious in your eyes.
14 Behold, fire has come down from the heavens and consumes the two heads of the former fifties and their fifties; and now, let my soul be precious in your eyes.”
15 And a messenger of YHWH speaks to Elijah, “Go down with him, do not be afraid of him”; and he rises and goes down with him to the king,
16 and speaks to him, “Thus said YHWH: Because that you have sent messengers to inquire of Ba‘al-Zebub god of Ekron—is it because there is not a God in Israel to inquire of His word? Therefore, the bed to where you have gone up—you do not come down from it, for you certainly die.”
17 And he dies, according to the word of YHWH that Elijah spoke, and Jehoram reigns in his stead, in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, for he had no son.
18 And the rest of the matters of Ahaziah that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
