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2 Kings 1:3

in 2 Kings 1

But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are on your way to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

But the angel of Jehovah said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it because there is no God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?

KJV

But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baal–zebub the god of Ekron?

This verse in 2 Kings 1

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

This latter supposition is most probably the true one, as Ahaziah did not fall either into the street or the court, but "in his upper chamber." inquire of Baalzebub--Anxious to learn whether he should recover from the effects of this severe fall, he sent to consult Baalzebub, that is, the god of flies, who was considered the patron deity of medicine.

This site's exposition

there is not a God in Israel

on 2 Kings 1:3-4

The angel meets Elijah before the messengers ever reach Ekron and hands him a question rather than an order, whether there is no God in Israel that the king must send abroad to a foreign idol. The same question falls two more times before the chapter closes, once repeated by the returning messengers and once delivered by Elijah in person, so the reader hears it three separate times. Elijah does not chase the men down to argue the point. He meets them, speaks the sentence, and departs, and that one sentence becomes the king's death warrant.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ephrem the Syrian

ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 1:1 · Written before 373.

proposed

"Ahaziah falls from the gallery of his upper chamber in Samaria." … Ahaziah is the son of Ahab, and after Ahab's death he takes his place and reigns over his people. Now, he falls from the upper chambers of his palace, and his body is …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

7 ), long since vanquished by Israel? Here, (1.) The sin was bad enough, giving that honour to the devil which is due to God alone, which was done as much by their enquiries as by their sacrifices.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens

But the angel of the Lord said unto Elijah,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

This consultation of an idol, being a breach of the fundamental law of the kingdom (Ex 20:3; De 5:7), was a daring and deliberate rejection of the national religion. The Lord, in making this announcement of his death, designed that he should see in that event a judgment for his idolatry.

The words behind it

25 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וּמַלְאַ֣ךְand [the] angel of

    umalakhH4397213 times

  • יְהוָ֗הYahweh

    yahwehH30686520 times

  • דִּבֶּר֙he spoke

    diberH16961141 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • אֵלִיָּ֣הElijah

    ʾeliyahH45271 times

  • הַתִּשְׁבִּ֔יthe Tishbite

    hatishbiH86646 times

  • ק֣וּםarise

    kumH6965628 times

  • עֲלֵ֔הgo up

    ʾalehH5927890 times

  • לִקְרַ֖אתto meet

    likratH7122139 times

  • מַלְאֲכֵ֣י[the] messengers of

    malakheiH4397213 times

  • מֶֽלֶךְ־[the] king of

    melekh-H44282525 times

  • שֹׁמְר֑וֹןSamaria

    shomeronH8111109 times

  • וְדַבֵּ֣רand speak

    vedaberH16961141 times

  • אֲלֵהֶ֔םto them

    ʾalehemH4135510 times

  • הַֽמִבְּלִ֤י¿ becasue not

    hamibeliH109758 times

  • אֵין־there not

    ʾein-H369789 times

  • אֱלֹהִים֙[is] a God

    ʾelohimH4302601 times

  • בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֔לin Israel

    beyisraelH34782507 times

  • אַתֶּם֙[are] you

    ʾatemH8591094 times

  • הֹֽלְכִ֔יםgoing

    holekhimH19801546 times

  • לִדְרֹ֕שׁto consult

    lidroshH1875164 times

  • בְּבַ֥עַל<in> Baal

    bevaalH11768 times

  • זְב֖וּבZebub

    zevuvH11768 times

  • אֱלֹהֵ֥י[the] god of

    ʾeloheiH4302601 times

  • עֶקְרֽוֹן׃Ekron

    ekronH613822 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    1 Kings 17:1

    Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD lives—the God of Israel before whom I stand—there will be neither dew nor rain in…

    it leads to

    • Luke 4:25–26

      But I tell you truthfully that there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and great famine swept over all…

    • James 5:17

      Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

    • Luke 1:17

      And he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to…

    • 1 Kings 22:14

      But Micaiah said, “As surely as the LORD lives, I will speak whatever the LORD tells me.”

  • Through

    Jonah 2:8

    Those who cling to worthless idols forsake His loving devotion.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 31:6

      I hate those who cling to worthless idols, but in the LORD I trust.

    • Jeremiah 2:13

      “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

    • 2 Kings 17:15

      They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and themselves became worthless, going after the surrounding…

    • 1 Samuel 12:21

      Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies2

About 2 Kings

This page draws on Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 1:1; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.