⁹ Then the king ^(A)sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty men. And he went up to him, and behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill. And he said to him, “You man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’” ¹⁰ But Elijah replied to the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, ^(B)may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” ^(C)Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.

¹¹ So the king again sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty men. And he said to him, “You man of God, this is what the king says: ‘Come down quickly!’” ¹² But Elijah replied to them, “If I am a man of God, may 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 men.

¹³ So the king ^(D)again sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty men. When the third captain of fifty went up, he came and bowed down on his knees before Elijah, and begged him and said to him, “You man of God, please let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight. ¹⁴ Behold, fire came down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty with their fifties; but now let my ^[a]life be precious in your sight.” ¹⁵ And ^(E)the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, “Go down with him; ^(F)do not be afraid of him.” So he got up and went down with him to the king. ¹⁶ Then he said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Since you have sent messengers ^(G)to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of His word? Therefore ^[b]you will not get down from the bed upon which you have lain, but you shall certainly die.’”