Study Desk

Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice in his upper room, which was in Samaria, and he was injured. So he sent messengers, and he said to them, "Go, inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, if I will survive this injury."

Then the angel of Yahweh spoke to Elijah the Tishbite, "Get up, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and speak to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?'

Then they said to him, "A man came up to meet us, and he said to us, ‘Go, return to the king who sent you and speak to him, "Thus says Yahweh, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron? Therefore the bed upon which you have gone, you will not come down from it, for you will surely die.'"'"

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.'"

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.

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!'"

Then Elijah answered and said to them, "If I am a man of God, then 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.

So he again sent a third time a commander of fifty and his fifty, and the commander of the third fifty went up and came and knelt down on his knees before Elijah and entreated him. He said to him, "O man of God, please let my life and the lives of your servants, these fifty, be precious in your eyes.

and he said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel from whom to inquire his word?—therefore the bed upon which you went, you shall not come down from it, for you shall surely die.'"

He took Elijah's cloak that had fallen from upon him and struck the water. Then he said, "Where is Yahweh, the God of Elijah?" So he also struck the water, and it divided in two, and Elisha crossed over.

So she came and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the olive oil and repay your debt. You and your sons can live on what is left over."

She said to her husband, "Please now, I know that he is a holy man of God who is passing our way regularly;

And he said, "At this time next spring, you will be embracing a son." She said, "No, my lord, O man of God! You must not tell a lie to your servant!"

She went up, laid him on the bed of the man of God, closed the door, and went out behind it.

She called to her husband and said, "Please send one of the servants and one of the female donkeys for me, so that I can go quickly up to the man of God and return."

So she went and came to the man of God by Mount Carmel. It happened when the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, "There is this Shunammite.

So she came to the man of God at the mountain, and she caught hold of his feet. Then Gehazi came near to push her away, but the man of God said, "Let her alone, for her soul is bitter, and Yahweh has hidden it from me and has not told me."

They served the men to eat, but when they ate from the stew, they cried out and said, "There is death in the pot, O man of God!" They were not able to eat it.

A man came from Baal-Shalishah and brought food to the man of God: firstfruits and twenty loaves of barley bread, with ripe grain in his sack. He said, "Give it to the people and let them eat."

It happened that when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God to cause death or to give life? This man is sending a man to me to cure his disease. Indeed! But know and see that he seeks an opportunity against me."