Elijah Denounces Ahaziah (1 Kings 22:51–53)
1 UST After King Ahab died, the Moabites rebelled against Israel. BSB BSB: After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel.
2 UST One day, Ahaziah, the new king of Israel, was in his room on an upper floor of his palace in Samaria. The window of that room had wooden slats, and he fell through them{ down to the floor below} and hurt himself badly. So he sent for some messengers and commanded them,“Go and ask Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether or not I will recover from this injury.” BSB BSB: 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.”
3 UST But an angel representing Yahweh told Elijah the Tishbite,“King Ahaziah has sent some messengers to Ekron to ask Baal Zebub whether he is going to recover. Go and meet those messengers and tell them to tell Ahaziah that he should have consulted God right here in Israel. BSB BSB: 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?’
4 UST Yahweh says that you should tell King Ahaziah that because he consulted Baal Zebub instead, he will never{ recover from this injury. He will never} get out of bed again. Instead, he is certainly going to die.” So Elijah went to meet the messengers. BSB BSB: 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.
5 UST { After Elijah told them that,} the messengers returned to the king{ instead of going to Ekron}. The king asked them,“Why have you come back so quickly?” BSB BSB: When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you returned?”
6 UST They replied,“A man came to meet us and told us to go back to the king who sent us and tell him that Yahweh says he should have consulted God right here in Israel. He should not have sent messengers to ask Baal Zebub whether he was going to recover! The man told us to tell you that because you did that, you will never{ recover from this injury and} get out of bed again. Instead, you are certainly going to die.” BSB BSB: 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.’”
7 UST The king asked them,“What did the man look like who met you and told you that?” BSB BSB: The king asked them, “What sort of man came up to meet you and spoke these words to you?”
8 UST They replied,“He was wearing a hairy cloak, and he had a wide leather belt around his waist.” The king said,“Then that was Elijah the Tishbite!” BSB BSB: “He was a hairy man,” they answered, “with a leather belt around his waist.” “It was Elijah the Tishbite,” said the king.
9 UST Then the king sent an officer with his fifty soldiers to seize Elijah. They{ went to look for him and} found him sitting on the top of a hill. The officer shouted up to him,“You prophet, the king commands you to come down here{ so that we can bring you to him}!” BSB BSB: 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!’”
10 UST Elijah replied to the officer,“I am a prophet, as you say. So I command fire to come down from the sky and burn you up along with your fifty soldiers!” Immediately fire came down from the sky and burned up the officer and his fifty soldiers. BSB BSB: 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.
11 UST { When the king found out about that,} he sent another officer with fifty more soldiers to seize Elijah.{ They went to where Elijah was, and} the officer called out to him,“You prophet, the king commands you to come down immediately!” BSB BSB: 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!’”
12 UST Elijah replied to the officer,“I am a prophet, as you say. So I command fire to come down from the sky and burn you up along with your fifty soldiers!” Then God sent fire down from the sky, and it burned up that officer and his fifty soldiers. BSB BSB: 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.
13 UST { When the king found out about that,} he sent yet another officer with fifty more soldiers.{ They went to where Elijah was, and} the officer went up to the top of the hill{ alone}. He bowed down{ respectfully} in front of Elijah. Then he begged him to be merciful. He said,“You prophet, please do not kill me and my fifty soldiers! BSB BSB: 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.
14 UST We know that fire came down from the sky and killed the first two officers and their soldiers. But please do not kill me{ and my soldiers}!” BSB BSB: 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.”
15 UST Then the angel representing Yahweh told Elijah,“Go with this man. Do not be afraid of the king.” So Elijah got up and went with the captain{ and his soldiers} to the king. BSB BSB: 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 UST { When} Elijah{ arrived, he} told the king,“Yahweh says that you should not have sent messengers to go to Ekron to ask Baal Zebub, their god, whether you would recover. You acted as though there was no God in Israel to consult. So you will not recover from this injury. Instead, you will certainly die!” BSB BSB: 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.”
Jehoram Succeeds Ahaziah 17 UST So Ahaziah died, just as Yahweh told Elijah to say would happen. Ahaziah had no son to succeed him as king. So Jehoram{, another son of Ahab,} became the next king. This happened when Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat had been ruling Judah for almost two years. BSB BSB: 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.
18 UST The book in which the kings of Israel recorded what happened during their reigns describes further things that Ahaziah did. BSB BSB: 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?
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.