2 Kings 1:11-18

11 So he again sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he said to him, "O man of God, thus says the king, 'Come down quickly.' "

12 Elijah replied to them, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty." Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

13 So he ¹again sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. When the third captain of fifty went up, he came and bowed down on his knees before Elijah, and begged him and said to him, "O man of God, please let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight.

14 "Behold fire came down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty with their fifties; but now let my ^[a]life be precious in your sight."

15 ²The angel of the LORD said to Elijah, "Go down with him; ³do not be afraid of him." So he arose and went down with him to the king.

16 Then he said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Because * you have sent messengers ⁴to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron -is it because * there is no God in Israel to inquire of His word?-therefore ^[b]you shall not come down from the bed where * you have gone up, but shall surely die.' "

Jehoram Reigns over Israel

17 So Ahaziah died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken. And because he had no son, Jehoram became king in his place ⁵in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.

18 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles * of the Kings of Israel?

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2 Kings 1:11-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS

\\COMMONLY CALLED THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE KINGS\\

This, and the preceding book, are properly but one book divided into two parts, because of the size of it, as the book of Samuel; it is a continuation of the history of the kings of Israel and Judah; and for a further account of it the reader is referred to the title of the preceding book.

\\INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 1\\

This chapter begins with the rebellion of Moab against Israel, 2Ki 1:1, relates a fall of the king of Israel in his house, which brought on him a sickness, about which he sent messengers to inquire of the god of Ekron, who were stopped by Elijah, and bid to return, as they did; and upon the king's examination of them about the cause of their return, he perceived it was Elijah that forbad them, 2Ki 1:2-8, upon which the king sent to him two captains, with fifty men each, one after another, to bring him to him, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 2Ki 1:9-12, but a third with fifty men sent to him were spared, and he is bid to go along with them with a message to the king, as he did, 2Ki 1:13-16 and the chapter is closed with the death of Ahaziah, 2Ki 1:17,18.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 5

1. Isaiah 1:5; Jeremiah 5:3
2. 2 Kings 1:3
3. Isaiah 51:12; Jeremiah 1:17; Ezekiel 2:6
4. 2 Kings 1:3
5. 2 Kings 3:1; 2 Kings 8:16

Footnotes 2

[a]. Lit "soul"
[b]. V 4, note 1