2 Kings 1:1-6

New Catholic Bible

Chapter 1

Ahaziah Consults Baal-zebub. ¹ After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel.

² Now Ahaziah had fallen down through the lattice of his upper chamber in Samaria and he was injured, so he sent messengers, saying, “Go to Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, to inquire as to whether I will recover from this illness or not.”^[a]

³ But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the king of Samaria’s messengers and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no god in Israel that you are going to make inquiry of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’ ⁴ Therefore, thus says the Lord: You shall not rise from the bed on which you lie; you will surely die.” Then Elijah departed.

⁵ The messengers then returned to him. He said to them, “Why have you come back?” ⁶ They answered him, “A man came up to meet us and he said, ‘Return to the king who sent you and say: Thus says the Lord: Is it because there is no god in Israel that you have sent to make inquiry of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? You shall not rise from the bed on which you lie; you will surely die.’ ”