2 Kings 1:4

4 This is what the LORD says: You will not get up from the bed you are lying on. Instead, you will die there.'" Then Elijah left.

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 During the rebellion King Ahaziah fell through a window lattice in his upstairs room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers [to Ekron]. He had told them, "Go ask Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, if I will recover from this injury."

3 Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah from Tishbe, "Meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and ask them, 'Do you seek advice from Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, because [you think] there is no God in Israel?

4 This is what the LORD says: You will not get up from the bed you are lying on. Instead, you will die there.'" Then Elijah left.

5 When the messengers returned, the king asked them, "Why have you come back so soon?"

6 They told him that a man came to meet them and said to them, "Go back to the king who sent you. Tell him, 'This is what the LORD says: Do you send messengers to seek advice from Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, because [you think] there is no God in Israel? You will not get up from the bed you are lying on. Instead, you will die there.'"