2 Kings 1:1-10 ▼

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.