Bible Strands
2 Kings 1:9
Then King Ahaziah sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. So the captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down!’”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — King Ahaziah dispatches a military captain and fifty soldiers to confront Elijah on a hill. The captain delivers the king’s direct command to the prophet, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down!’”
The words — The Hebrew וַיִּשְׁלַח (va/yishlach) translates literally as “and he sent,” establishing the royal commission, while וַיַּעַל (va/yya'al) means “and he went up,” marking the captain’s physical ascent to the prophet’s elevated position.
The thread — This royal confrontation echoes later attempts to apprehend God’s messengers, such as the king’s order to capture Elisha (2 Kings 6:13) and the religious leaders’ plotting against Jesus (Luke 6:11).
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that earthly authority cannot override divine commission, requiring the reader to submit to God’s word when human commands contradict it.
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
Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 6:13 So the king said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send men to capture him.” On receiving the report, “Elisha is in Dothan,”
- Luke 6:11 But the scribes and Pharisees were filled with rage and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.
- Hebrews 11:36 Still others endured mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.
- 1 Kings 18:4 for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)
- 1 Kings 18:10 As surely as the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent someone to search for you. When they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made that kingdom or nation swear that they had not found you.
- 1 Kings 18:42 So Ahab went up to eat and drink. But Elijah climbed to the summit of Carmel, bent down on the ground, and put his face between his knees.
- 1 Kings 19:2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I have not made your life like the lives of those you killed!”
- 1 Kings 22:8 The king of Israel answered, “There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me, but only bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” “The king should not say that!” Jehoshaphat replied.
- 1 Kings 22:26 And the king of Israel declared, “Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son,
- Amos 7:12 And Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah; earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.