Bible Strands
2 Kings 1:10
Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And fire came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his fifty men.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Elijah, sitting on a hill, answers a captain of fifty men sent by King Ahaziah of Samaria to compel him to descend. The captain has just delivered the king's command; Elijah's reply is immediate.
The words — 'ish (אִישׁ, "man") is the pivot: the captain addresses Elijah as "man of God," and Elijah turns that title into a verifiable condition—"If I am a man of God"—making the claim testable rather than merely honorific.
The thread — The same prophet called down fire at Carmel (1 Kings 18:36–38); the disciples later ask to repeat the act (Luke 9:54); and fire as divine presence appears in the furnace (Daniel 3:25).
Why it lands — The verse presents a divine identity claim as something that can be confirmed or refuted in a single moment, forcing the reader to ask what kind of "man of God" one is willing to be tested as.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
Cross-references
- Luke 9:54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do You want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”
- Daniel 3:25 “Look!” he exclaimed. “I see four men, unbound and unharmed, walking around in the fire—and the fourth looks like a son of the gods!”
- 1 Kings 18:36 At the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached the altar and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and have done all these things at Your command.
- Daniel 3:22 The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the fiery flames killed the men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
- Psalms 106:18 Then fire blazed through their company; flames consumed the wicked.
- Hebrews 12:29 “For our God is a consuming fire.”
- Numbers 16:28 Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things, for it was not my own doing:
- Job 1:16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and reported: “The fire of God fell from heaven. It burned and consumed the sheep and the servants, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
- Revelation 11:5 If anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone who wants to harm them must be killed.
- Numbers 16:35 And fire came forth from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.