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Ahaziah’s Sickness and Death

¹ After Ahab’s death, Moab^(C1) rebelled against Israel.^{(C2) 2} Ahaziah^(C1) had fallen through the latticed window of his upstairs room in Samaria^(C2) and was injured. So he sent messengers, instructing them, “Go inquire of Baal-zebub,^(F1)(C3) the god of Ekron,^(C4) whether I will recover from this injury.”^(C5)

³ But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite,^(C1) “Go and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria^(C2) 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? ⁴ Therefore, this is what the Lord says: You will not get up from your sickbed; you will certainly die.’” Then Elijah left.

⁵ The messengers returned to the king, who asked them, “Why have you come back?”

⁶ They replied, “A man came to meet us and said, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and declare to him: This is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you’re sending these men to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore, you will not get up from your sickbed; you will certainly die.’”

⁷ The king asked them, “What sort of man came up to meet you and spoke those words to you?”

⁸ They replied, “A hairy man with a leather belt around his waist.”^(C1)

He said, “It’s Elijah the Tishbite.”^(C2)

⁹ So King Ahaziah sent a captain with his fifty men^(C1) to Elijah. When the captain went up to him, he was sitting on top of the hill. He announced, “Man of God,^(C2) the king declares, ‘Come down!’”

¹⁰ Elijah responded to the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.^(C1)

¹¹ So the king sent another captain with his fifty men to Elijah. He took in the situation^(F1) and announced, “Man of God, this is what the king says: ‘Come down immediately!’”

¹² Elijah responded, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” So a divine fire^(F1) came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.

¹³ Then the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. The third captain went up and fell on his knees in front of Elijah and begged him, “Man of God,^(C1) please let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious to you.^{(C2) 14} Already fire has come down from heaven and consumed the first two captains with their companies, but this time let my life be precious to you.”

¹⁵ The angel of the Lord^(C1) said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Don’t be afraid of him.”^(C2) So he got up and went down with him to the king.

¹⁶ Then Elijah said to King Ahaziah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel for you to inquire of his will?—you will not get up from your sickbed; you will certainly die.’”

¹⁷ Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken. Since he had no son, Joram^(F1)(C1) became king in his place. This happened in the second year of Judah’s King Jehoram^(C2) son of Jehoshaphat.^{(F2) 18} The rest of the events of Ahaziah’s reign, along with his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings.^(F1)(C1)