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Ahaziah fell through a window lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria and was injured. He sent messengers with these orders,[a] “Go, ask[b] Baal Zebub,[c] the god of Ekron, if I will survive this injury.”

But the angel of the Lord told Elijah the Tishbite, “Get up; go to meet the messengers from the king of Samaria. Say this to them: ‘You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are on your way to seek an oracle from Baal Zebub the god of Ekron.[d] Therefore this is what the Lord has said, “You will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die!”’” So Elijah went on his way.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 1:2 tn Heb “and he sent messengers and said to them.”
  2. 2 Kings 1:2 tn That is, “seek an oracle from.”
  3. 2 Kings 1:2 sn Apparently Baal Zebub refers to a local manifestation of the god Baal at the Philistine city of Ekron. The name appears to mean “Lord of the Flies,” but it may be a deliberate scribal change of Baal Zebul, “Baal, the Prince,” a title known from the Ugaritic texts. For further discussion and bibliography, see HALOT 261 s.v. זְבוּב בַּעַל and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 25.
  4. 2 Kings 1:3 tn Heb “Is it because there is no God in Israel [that] you are going to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron?” The translation seeks to bring out the sarcastic tone of the rhetorical question.