After Ahab's death,
Moab rebelled against Israel.
Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice
of his upper room in Samaria
and injured himself.
So he sent messengers, saying to them,
"Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron,
to see if I will recover from this injury."
But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite,
"Go up and meet the messenger of the king of Samaria
and ask them,
'Is it because there is no God in Israel
that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub,
the god of Ekron?'
Therefore this is what the Lord says:
'You will not leave the bed you are lying on.
You will certainly die!'"
So Elijah went.
When the messengers returned to the king,
he asked them, "Why have you come back?"
"A man came to meet us," they replied.
"And he said to us,
'Go back to the king who sent you and tell him,
"This is what the Lord says:
Is it because there is no God in Israel
that you are sending me to consult Baal-Zebub,
the god of Ekron?
Therefore you will not leave the bed you are lying on.
You will certainly die!'"
The king asked them, "What kind of man was it
who came to meet you and told you this?"
They replied, "He was a man with a garment of hair
and with a leather belt around his waist."
The king said, "That was Elijah the Tishbite."
Then he sent to Elijah
a captain with his company of fifty men.
The captain went up to Elijah,
who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him,
"Man of God, the king says, 'Come down!'"
Elijah answered the captain,
"If I am a man of God,
may fire come down from heaven
and consume you and your fifty men!"
Then fire fell from heaven
and consumed the captain and his men.
At this the king sent to Elijah
another captain and his fifty men.
The captain said to him,
"Man of God, this is what the king says,
'Come down at one!'"
"If I am a man of God," Elijah replied,
"may fire come down from heaven
and consume you and your fifty men!"
Then the fire of God fell from heaven
and consumed him and his fifty men.
"So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men.
This third captain went up
and fell on his knees before Elijah.
"Man of God," he begged,
"Please have respect for my life
and the lives of these fifty men, your servants!
See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed
the first two captains and all their men.
But now have respect for my life!"
The angel of the Lord said to Elijah,
"Go down with him; do not be afraid of him."
So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.
He told the king,
"This is what the Lord says:
Is it because there is no God in Israel for you to consult
that you have sent messengers
to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?
Because you have done this,
you will never leave the bed you are lying on.
You will certainly die!"
So he died, according to the word of the Lord
that Elijah had spoken.
(II Kings 1:1-17)
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