2 Kings 1:4

4 Now therefore thus says the LORD, You shall not come down from the bed where you are gone up, but shall surely die. Eliyah departed.

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 Achazyah fell down through the lattice in his upper chamber that was in Shomron, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said to them, Go, inquire of Ba`al-Zevuv, the god of `Ekron, whether I shall recover of this sickness.

3 But the angel of the LORD said to Eliyah the Tishbi, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Shomron, and tell them, Is it because there is no God in Yisra'el, that you go to inquire of Ba`al-Zevuv, the god of `Ekron?

4 Now therefore thus says the LORD, You shall not come down from the bed where you are gone up, but shall surely die. Eliyah departed.

5 The messengers returned to him, and he said to them, Why is it that you have returned?

6 They said to him, There came up a man to meet us, and said to us, Go, turn again to the king who sent you, and tell him, Thus says the LORD, Is it because there is no God in Yisra'el, that you send to inquire of Ba`al-Zevuv, the god of `Ekron? therefore you shall not come down from the bed where you are gone up, but shall surely die.