2 Kings 1
King Ahaziah dies
1After King Ahab’s death, the country called Moab fought against Israel. 2King Ahaziah lived in Samaria. He fell from the window of an upstairs room. So, he became ill. So he sent people with this message: ‘Go to Baalzebub, the god in Ekron. Ask him if I will become well again after this illness.’ 3Then an angel of the LORD spoke to Elijah who was from Tishbe. The angel said: ‘Go and meet the men that the king of Samaria has sent with a message. Say to them, “You should not go to speak to Baalzebub, the god in Ekron. You seem to think that there is no God in Israel.” 4So this is what the LORD says to you, Ahaziah. “You will not leave the bed that you are lying on. You will surely die.”’ Then Elijah went away. 5So the people with the message returned to the king. He asked them, ‘Why have you returned?’ 6They replied, ‘A man came to meet us. And he said to us. Go back to the king who sent you. Tell him, “This is what the LORD says. You should not send men to speak to Baalzebub, the god in Ekron. You seem to think that there is no God in Israel. You will not leave the bed that you are lying on. You will surely die.”’ 7The king asked them, ‘What kind of a man was it who came to meet you? Who told you this?’ 8They replied, ‘He was a man with hairy clothes and he wore a leather belt.’ Then the king said, ‘That was Elijah from Tishbe.’ 9Then the king sent 50 men with their captain to Elijah. Elijah was sitting on the top of a hill. The captain went up to Elijah. He said to Elijah, ‘Man of God, the king says, “Come down.”’ 10This was Elijah’s answer to the captain of 50 men. ‘If I am a man of God, fire will come down from the sky. It will burn you and your 50 men.’ Then fire did fall from the sky. It burnt the captain and his men so that they died. 11Then the king sent another captain and 50 men to Elijah. The captain said to him, ‘Man of God, the king says, “Come down immediately.”’ 12Elijah answered, ‘If I am a man of God, fire will come down from the sky. It will burn you and your 50 men.’ Then fire from God did fall from the sky. It burnt the captain and his 50 men so that they died. 13So the king sent a third captain, with his 50 men. This third captain went up to Elijah. He fell to his knees in front of Elijah. ‘Man of God’, he prayed, ‘please be kind to me and to these 50 men. We are your servants. Do not cause us to die. 14Look! Fire fell from the sky. It burnt the first two captains and all their men, so that they died. But now, be kind to me.’ 15The LORD‘s angel said to Elijah, ‘Go down with him. Do not be afraid of him.’ So Elijah got up and he went down with the captain to the king. 16Elijah said to the king, ‘This is what the LORD says. You should not send men with a message to speak to Baalzebub, the god in Ekron. You seem to think that there is no God in Israel. You will never leave the bed that you are lying on. It is because you have done this. You will surely die.’ 17So Ahaziah died. This is what the LORD had told Elijah. Ahaziah had no son, so Joram became king after him. This was in the second year in which Jehoram was the king of Judah. Jehoram was the son of Jehoshaphat. Many other things happened while Ahaziah was king. Also, he did many things. People wrote them in a book. It is called ‘the reports about the kings of Israel’. 18Notes about chapter 1 ▼▼1:18 Jehoshaphat was the king in Judah between 868 BC and 847 BC. Here are the dates of the kings of Israel. ▼▼1:18 871-852 BC Ahab ▼▼1:18 852-851 BC Ahaziah ▼▼1:18 851-845 BC Jehoram (also called Joram)
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