2 Kings 1:9

9 So {Ahaziah}^[a] sent to him the commander of fifty with his fifty [men], and he went up to him while he was sitting on the top of the hill. He said to him, "[O] man of God, the king says, 'Come down.'"

2 Kings 1:9 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 1:9

Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty,
&c.] Not in honour to him, but to bring him by force if he refused to come willingly: and he went up to him, and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill;
generally supposed to be Mount Carmel; and he spake unto him;
at the bottom of the hill, so loud that he might hear him: thou man of God;
or the prophet of the Lord, as the Targum, as thou callest thyself; for this was said in a sneering, flouting, manner: the king hath said, come down;
and in the king's name he ordered him to come down, signifying, if he would not, he would send his men to fetch him down.

2 Kings 1:9 In-Context

7 Then he spoke to them, "What [was] the manner of the man who came up to meet you and spoke to you all these things?"

8 They answered him, "A {hairy man} with a leather belt girded around his waist." And he said, "It [is] Elijah the Tishbite."

9 So {Ahaziah} sent to him the commander of fifty with his fifty [men], and he went up to him while he was sitting on the top of the hill. He said to him, "[O] man of God, the king says, 'Come down.'"

10 Then Elijah answered and said to the commander of the fifty, "If I [am] a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty!" Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

11 So he {again sent} another commander of fifty and his fifty [men]. He answered and said to him, "[O] man of God, thus says the king, 'Come down quickly!'"

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "he"