2 Kings 1
1 After King Ahab died, [the country of] Moab rebelled against Israel.
And Moab rebelled against Israel, after the death of Achab.
2 One day, Ahaziah, [the new king of Israel, ] fell through the wooden slats/boards around the edge of the flat roof [of his palace] in Samaria. He was badly injured, so he summoned some messengers and told them, “Go to Ekron [city in Philistia], and ask their god Baalzebub whether I will (recover/become well).”
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.
3 But an angel from Yahweh said to Elijah, the prophet from Tishbe [town], “The king of Samaria [is sending] some messengers [to Ekron]. Go and meet them and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to Ekron to ask Baalzebub, the god of those people, [whether you will recover]?
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?
4 Yahweh says [that you should tell King Ahaziah] that he will not recover from his being injured; he will surely die.’”
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.
5 [So Elijah went to meet] the messengers [and told that to them, and they] returned to the king [instead of going to Ekron]. The king asked them, “Why did you return [so soon]?”
And the messengers turned back to Ochozias. And he said to them: Why are you come back?
6 They replied, “A man came to meet us, and said to us, ‘Return to the king who sent you and tell him that Yahweh says, “(Is it because there no God in Israel that you are sending [messengers] to Ekron to consult Baalzebub, their god?/You seem to think there is no God in Israel, with the result that you are sending [messengers] to Ekron to ask Baalzebub, their god, [whether you will recover].) [RHQ] [Go tell the king that] he will not recover from being injured; instead, he will surely die.”’”
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.
7 The king said to them, “The man who came to meet you and told that to you, what did he look like?”
And he said to them: What manner of man was he who met you, and spoke these words?
8 They replied, “He was a hairy man and he had a [wide] leather belt around his waist.” The king exclaimed, “That was Elijah!”
But they said: A hairy man with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said: It is Elias the Thesbite.
9 Then the king sent an officer with 50 soldiers to seize Elijah. They found Elijah sitting on the top of a hill. The officer called out to him, “Prophet, the king commands that you come down here!”
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.
10 But Elijah replied, “I am a prophet; so, I command that fire come down from the sky and burn up you and your 50 soldiers!” Immediately, fire came down from the sky and completely burned up the officer and his 50 [soldiers].
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.
11 [When the king found out about that, ] he sent another officer with 50 more soldiers. They went [to where Elijah was], and the officer called out to him, “Prophet, the king commands that you come down immediately!”
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.
12 But Elijah replied, “I am a prophet; [to prove that, ] I command that fire come down from the sky and kill you and your soldiers!” Then a fire from God came down from the sky and killed the officer and his soldiers.
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.
13 [When the king heard about that] he sent another officer with 50 more soldiers. [They went to where Elijah was], and the officer prostrated himself in front of Elijah, and said to him, “Prophet, I plead with you, be kind to me and my 50 soldiers, and (do not kill us/allow us to remain alive)!
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.
14 [We know that] two times fire came down from the sky and killed officers and the 50 soldiers who were with them. So now, please be kind to me!”
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.
15 Then the angel from Yahweh said to Elijah, “Go down [and go] with him. Do not be afraid of him.” So Elijah went with them to the king.
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,
16 [When Elijah arrived, ] he said to the king, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘You sent messengers to go to Ekron to ask Baalzebub, their god, [whether you would recover]. You acted as though [RHQ] there is no God in Israel to consult. So you will not recover from being injured; instead, you are going to die!’”
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.
17 So Ahaziah died, which is what Yahweh told Elijah would happen. Ahaziah’s [younger] brother Joram became the new king, when Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, had been ruling Judah for almost two years. Ahaziah’s brother became the king because Ahaziah had no son [to become the king].
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.
18 [If you want to know about] all the other things that Ahaziah did, they are [RHQ] written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Israel’.
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?
