The Samarian king Ahaziah fell through the bars from his upper room in Samaria and fell ill. And he sent messengers and said to them:
- Go, ask Beelzebub, the deity of Ekron, will I recover from this illness?
And they went to ask.
Then the Angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite:
“Get up, go to meet those sent by the king of Samara and tell them: “Is there no God in Israel, why are you going to ask Beelzebub, the deity of Ekron?” For this, the Lord says: from the bed on which you lie down, you will not leave it, but you will die.”
And Elijah went and told them. And the messengers returned to Ahaziah. And he said to them:
- Why did you come back?
And they said to him:
“A man came out to meet us and said to us: “Go, return to the king who sent you, and tell him: Thus says the Lord: Is there no God in Israel, why are you sending Beelzebub, the deity of Ekron, to inquire? Therefore, from the bed on which you lay down, you will not leave it, but you will die.
And he said to them:
- What is the appearance of the man who came out to meet you and spoke these words to you?
They told him:
- That man is covered in hair and has a leather belt around his waist.
And he said:
- This is Elijah the Tishbite.
And he sent the captain of fifty to him with his fifty. And he went up to him while Elijah was sitting on the top of the mountain, and said to him:
- Man of God! The king says, come down.
And Elijah answered and said to the captain of Pentecost:
“If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and burn you and your fifty.”
And fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.
And the king sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he began to tell him:
- Man of God! This is what the king said: “Come down quickly.”
And Elijah answered and said to him:
“If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and burn you and your fifty.”
And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.
And he sent a Pentecostal man a third time with his fifty. And he rose up, and the third Pentecostal came, and fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him, and said to him:
- Man of God! Let not my soul and the soul of your servants—fifty of them—be despised before your eyes. Behold, fire came down from heaven and consumed the two former Pentecostals with their fifties. But now let not my soul be despised in your sight!
And the Angel of the Lord said to Elijah:
- Go with him, don’t be afraid of him.
And he stood up and went with him to the king. And he said to him:
“Thus says the Lord: “Because you sent ambassadors to inquire of Beelzebub, the deity of Ekron, as if there was no God in Israel to inquire about His word, from the bed on which you lay down, you will not leave it, but you will die.”
And he died according to the word of the Lord, which Elijah spoke.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru