Old Testament
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
New Testament
2 Kings
The second book of Kings continues the history of Israel from the time of Ahab's death, which occurred in about 853 bc. It proceeds through the destruction of Samaria in about 722 bc to the destruction of Jerusalem in about 586 bc. The book contrasts God's grace with Israel's sinfulness. We do not know the name of the author of this book, but it may have been Jeremiah or one of his associates. The author made extensive use of earlier records. The book was probably written during the exile to Babylon.
God's Judgment on Ahaziah
11Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. 2Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upstairs room in Samaria, and he was injured. So he sent messengers and told them, “Go, inquire of Baal Zebub,[] the god of Ekron, whether I will survive this injury.”
3But an angel of the Lord said to Elijah from Tishbe, “Get up. Go meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say to them, ‘Is there no God in Israel, so that you are going to seek out Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? 4Therefore, this is what the Lord says. You will not get up from the bed you have gotten into. You will certainly die.’” So Elijah went.
5The messengers returned to the king, so he said to them, “Why have you come back?”
6They told him, “A man came up to meet us and told us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him: This is what the Lord says. Is there no God in Israel, so that you are sending men to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore, you will not get up from the bed you have gotten into. You will surely die.’”
7He said to them, “How would you describe the man who came up to meet you and said these words to you?”
8They told him, “He was dressed in clothing made of hair,[] with a leather belt tied around his waist.”
Then Ahaziah said, “That was Elijah from Tishbe!”
9So he sent a captain of fifty men to Elijah. He went up to him, and there Elijah was, sitting on top of a hill. Then the captain said to him, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!’”
10Then Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, let fire fall from the sky[] and consume you and your fifty men!” Then fire fell from the sky and consumed him and his fifty men.
11Then the king sent another captain of fifty men to him, and the captain said, “Man of God, this is what the king says: ‘Come down at once!’”
12Elijah answered, “If I am a man of God, then let fire fall from the sky and consume you and your fifty men!” Then the fire of God fell from the sky and consumed him and his fifty men.
13So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. The third captain went and got down on his knees before Elijah and begged for mercy. He said to Elijah, “Man of God, let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your eyes. 14Look, fire from the sky fell and consumed the first two captains and their companies of fifty men. But now, let the lives of your servants be precious.”
15Then the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Do not fear him.” So Elijah stood up and went down with him to the king. 16Then Elijah told the king, “This is what the Lord says. Because you sent messengers to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron—Is there no God in Israel to inquire of?—therefore, you will not get up from the bed you have gotten into. You will certainly die.”
17Then he died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken. Because Ahaziah did not have a son, Jehoram[] became king in his place in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. 18As for the rest of Ahaziah's acts which he did, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Israel?
Footnotes
- 1:2 Or the Lord of the Flies. This is probably an insulting distortion of the god's real name, Baal Zebul, lord of majesty.
- 1:8 Literally a man a master of hair, a term which may refer to a hairy man or a man with flowing hair. A parallel with John the Baptist supports another interpretation, wearing a garment made of hair (Matthew 3:4).
- 1:10 Or from heaven
- 1:17 The Hebrew reads Jehoram, a variant of Joram. Both Judah and Israel had kings who were known by the dual names Joram and Jehoram. Both names are used for both kings, and the two kings ruled at about the same time.