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the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel. 2 Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice in his upper room in Samaria and was injured. So he sent messengers, saying to them, “Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, if I will recover from this injury.”
3 But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? 4 Therefore, this is what the Lord says: ‘You will not get up from the bed you are lying on, for you will certainly die’.” So Elijah went.
5 When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you come back?”
6 They answered him, “A man came to meet us, 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 these men to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore, you will not get up from the bed you are lying on, for you will certainly die’.”
7 The king asked them, “What kind of man was it who came to meet you and spoke these words to you?”
8 They replied, “He was a hairy man with a leather belt around his waist.”
The king said, “That was Elijah the Tishbite.”
9 Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty men. The captain went up to Elijah, as he was sitting on the top of a hill, and he said to him, “O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!’ ”
10 Elijah answered the captain of the fifty, “If I am a man of God, then let 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.
11 So the king again sent another captain of fifty with his fifty men to Elijah. The captain said to him, “O man of God, this is what the king said, ‘Come down at once!’ ”
12 But Elijah answered him, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.
13 So the king sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty men to Elijah. But the third captain of fifty went up and fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him, “O man of God, please let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight. 14 Already fire has come down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty with their men. But let my life now be precious in your sight.”
15 Then 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.
16 He said to the king, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because you sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of His word?—therefore, you will not come get up from the bed you are lying on, but you will certainly die’.” 17 So Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken.
Since Ahaziah had no son, Joram succeeded him as king. This happened in the second year of the reign of Jehoram son of Jehoshiphat, king of Judah. 18 As for the other events of the reign of Ahaziah and all that he did, are they not written about in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel?