told you these words?"

And they answered him, "He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of
leather about his loins."

And he said, "It is Elijah the Tishbite."

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 the hill. And he
spoke unto him, "O man of God, the king hath said, 'Come down.'"

And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, "If I be a man
of God, 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.

And again he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty.
And he answered and said unto him, "O man of God, thus hath the king
said, 'Come down quickly.'"

And Elijah answered and said unto them, "If I be a man of God, let
fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty."

{386}

And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his
fifty.

And again he sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. And the
third captain of fifty went up and came and fell on his knees before
Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, "O man of God, I pray
thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be
precious in thy sight. Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and
consumed the two former captains of fifty with their fifties; but now
let my life be precious in thy sight."

And the angel of Jehovah said unto Elijah, "Go down with him: be not
afraid of him."

And he arose, and went down with him unto the king. And he said unto
him, "Thus saith the Lord, 'Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to
inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God
in Israel to inquire of his word? therefore thou shalt not come down
from the bed whither thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.'"

So he died according to the word of Jehovah which Elijah had spoken.

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JORAM.

(Joram, or Jehoram as it is sometimes written, was another evil king
of the race of Ahab. Frightened by the fate of his brother he began
his reign by an attack upon idolatry. But the old wicked blood flamed
out, and his reign was marked by many excesses and much wrong-doing.
The account of other events of this reign not given here, and how the
king, already sick from arrow wounds received in battle, was killed by
an arrow from the strong bow of Jehu, will be found in the "Stories of
Elijah and Elisha" in th