2 Kings 1:4

4 This is what the LORD says: You will never get out of the bed you are lying in; you will die for sure!'" So Elijah set off.

2 Kings 1:4 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 1:4

Now therefore thus saith the Lord
Jehovah, the only true God:

thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but
shall surely die;
this sickness should be unto death, and the bed he had betaken himself to should be his deathbed. The phrases of going up to bed, and coming down, are used with great propriety; for in the eastern countries, in their bedchambers, they had a gallery raised four or five feet above the floor, with a balustrade on the front ^F4, and steps leading up to it; or ladders, which had more or fewer rounds, according as the beds were higher or lower ^F5:

and Elijah departed;
having met the messengers, and delivered his message from the Lord unto them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 See Dr. Shaw's Travels, p. 209. Ed. 2.
F5 Vid. Isidor. Origin. l. 20. c. 11. & Alstorph. de Lect. Vet. c. 2.

2 Kings 1:4 In-Context

2 Ahaziah fell out the window of his second-story room in Samaria and was hurt. He sent messengers, telling them, "Go to Ekron's god Baal-zebub, and ask if I will recover from this injury."

3 But the LORD's messenger said to Elijah from Tishbe, "Go, intercept the messengers of Samaria's king, and ask them, ‘Is it because there's no God in Israel that you are going to question Ekron's god Baal-zebub?

4 This is what the LORD says: You will never get out of the bed you are lying in; you will die for sure!'" So Elijah set off.

5 The messengers returned to Ahaziah. He said to them, "Why have you come back?"

6 They said to him, "A man met us and said, ‘Go back to the king who sent you. Say to him, This is what the LORD says: Is it because there's no God in Israel that you've come to question Ekron's god Baal-zebub? Because of this, you will never get out of the bed you are lying in; you will die for sure!"