A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
2 Kings 1
2 Kings 1 is the opening chapter of the twelfth book of the Bible. The 18-verse chapter records the death of the northern king Ahaziah after he sends messengers to consult a foreign god, and the prophet Elijah's three confrontations with the captains sent to bring him in.
The chapter opens with Ahaziah, son of Ahab, falling through a lattice in his upper room in Samaria and being seriously injured. Rather than consulting God, he sends messengers to Ekron to ask Baal-zebub, the god of that Philistine city, whether he will recover.
An angel of the Lord tells Elijah to intercept the messengers. Elijah meets them on the road, asks why they are going to a foreign god as if there were no God in Israel, and sends them back with a message: Ahaziah will not get up from the bed he is on. He will die.
The messengers return and describe the man who stopped them, a hairy man with a leather belt. Ahaziah recognizes Elijah. He sends a captain with fifty soldiers to bring Elijah in. The captain demands Elijah come down from the hilltop where he is sitting. Fire from heaven consumes him and his fifty men. A second captain repeats the demand and meets the same fate. The third captain comes humbly and pleads for his life and the lives of his men. Elijah goes with him to the king and delivers the same message in person. Ahaziah dies as announced.
Verse 1. After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel.
Verse 2. Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers and instructed them: “Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this injury.”
Verse 3. But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are on your way to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’
Verse 4. Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘You will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.’” So Elijah departed.
Verse 5. When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you returned?”
Verse 6. They replied, “A man came up to meet us and said, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him that 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 on which you are lying. You will surely die.’”
Verse 7. The king asked them, “What sort of man came up to meet you and spoke these words to you?”
Verse 8. “He was a hairy man,” they answered, “with a leather belt around his waist.” “It was Elijah the Tishbite,” said the king.
Verse 9. Then King Ahaziah sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. So the captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down!’”
Verse 10. Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And fire came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his fifty men.
Verse 11. So the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. And the captain said to Elijah, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down at once!’”
Verse 12. Again Elijah replied, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his fifty men.
Verse 13. So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. And the third captain went up, fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him, “Man of God, may my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours please be precious in your sight.
Verse 14. Behold, fire has come down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty, with all their men. But now may my life be precious in your sight.”
Verse 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.
Verse 16. And Elijah said to King Ahaziah, “This is what the LORD says: Is there really no God in Israel for you to inquire of His word? Is that why you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.”
Verse 17. So Ahaziah died according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken. And since he had no son, Jehoram succeeded him in the second year of the reign of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat over Judah.
Verse 18. As for the rest of the acts of Ahaziah, along with his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
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