1THEN Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. 2And Ahaziah fell down from the balcony of his upper chamber in Samaria, and was injured; so he sent messengers and said to them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover from this injury. 3But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say to them, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? 4Now therefore thus says the LORD: You shall not come down from the bed on which you are lying, but you shall surely die. And Elijah departed.

5And when the messengers returned to Ahaziah, he said to them, Why have you turned back? 6And they said to him, A man came up to meet us and said to us, Go, turn again to the man who sent you and say to him, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? Therefore thus says the LORD: You shall not come down from the bed on which you are lying, but you shall surely die. 7And he said to them, What manner of man was he who came up to meet you and told you these words? 8And they answered him, He was a hairy man and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said to them, It is Elijah the Tishbite.

9Then he sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him; and he was sitting on top of a mountain. And he said to him, O prophet of God, the king says, Come down. 10And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I am a prophet of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty. And there came down fire from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

11Again he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he spoke to him, saying, O prophet of God, thus says the king, Come down quickly. 12And Elijah answered and said to him, If I am a prophet of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

13And he sent again to him the third time a captain of fifty with his fifty. And the captain of fifty went up and fell on his knees before Elijah and besought him and said to him, O prophet of God, let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours who are standing before you be precious in your sight. 14For behold, there came fire down from heaven and consumed the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties; therefore let now my life be precious in your sight. 15And the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, Go down with him; be not afraid of him. And he arose and went down with him to the king. 16And he said to him, Thus says the LORD: Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire for his word? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed on which you are lying, but you shall surely die.

17So he died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken. And Joram, his brother, reigned in his stead in the second year of Joram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, because he had no son. 18Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah and all which he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.