1Moab rebelled against Israel after Ahab’s death.
2Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper room in Samaria and became ill. So he sent messengers and told them, “Go, ask Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, if I will recover from this sickness.”
3But the angel of Yahweh said to Elijah from Tishbe, “Get up, go meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and tell them: ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to ask Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’
4Now Yahweh says, 'You will not get out of the bed you're lying in; you will certainly die.'" Then Elijah left.
5The messengers returned to him, and he asked them, "Why have you come back?"
6They told him, "A man met us and said to us, 'Go back to the king who sent you and tell him: "Yahweh says, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to ask Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore, you will not get out of the bed you're lying in; you will certainly die.'"'"
7He asked them, "What kind of man was it who met you and told you these things?"
8They answered him, "He wore a hairy garment and had a leather belt around his waist." He said, "That's Elijah the Tishbite."
9Then the king sent a captain with his fifty men to Elijah. The captain went up to him and saw him sitting on top of a hill. He said to him, "Man of God, the king says, 'Come down!'"
10Elijah answered the captain of fifty, "If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty men!" Then fire came down from the sky and consumed him and his fifty men.
11Again, the king sent another captain with his fifty men to Elijah. He said to him, "Man of God, the king says, 'Come down quickly!'"
12Elijah answered them, "If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty men!" Then God's fire came down from the sky and consumed him and his fifty men.
13Again, the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. The third captain and his fifty men went up, came, and fell on his knees before Elijah, begging him and saying, "Man of God, please let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight.
14Look, fire came down from the sky and consumed the last two captains of fifty with their men. But now, please let my life be precious in your sight."
15Yahweh's angel said to Elijah, "Go down with him. Don't be afraid of him." So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.
16Elijah said to the king, "Yahweh says, 'Because you sent messengers to ask Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to ask for his word? Therefore, you will not get out of the bed you're lying in; you will certainly die.'"
17So he died, just as Yahweh's word, spoken by Elijah, had foretold. Jehoram began to reign in his place in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, because Ahaziah had no son.
18As for the other acts of Ahaziah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?