While king Ahab was alive he made for himself a house of ivory and he built cities in Israel.

After he was dead his son, Ahaziah, was king and sat on the throne to rule over the north part of Israel. At this time Jehoshaphat was king over Judah, the south part of Israel.

Jehoshaphat was 35 years old when he started to be king and he was king for 25 years.

God is always watching and He saw that Jehoshaphat did what was right mostly all of the time.

He was strong and made war against the bad ones and took away the bad things out of the land.

Jehoshaphat sent ships on the sea to bring back gold, but the ships were broken.

When his life in this world was done he slept with his fathers and his son, Jehoram, was king in his place over Judah.

God's special land was still very beautiful.

When another man, Ahaziah, was king, he fell down from upstairs and was sick. He sent a men to ask the bad ones if he would get better.

But the angel of the Lord told Elijah, Go tell the messengers, Is there no God in Israel that you go ask the bad ones? Because of this you will not get better. (The bad ones bring hurt and death to the people)

So the messengers went back and told the king the words from the Lord God.

The king knew it was Elijah who gave his men the message. Instead of turning back to the true God and asking Him to make him better, the king sent 50 soldiers to go hurt Elijah.

The men found Elijah sitting at the top of a hill. They said, Come down, O man of God.

Elijah said back, If I am a man of God then let fire come down from heaven on you. And fire came down from heaven on them.

When the king heard this he sent 50 more soldiers to get Elijah. They said, Come down quickly.

Elijah said, If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven on you. (If he was a man of God, they should listen to him, not hurt him). Fire came down on them too.

The king sent 50 more soldiers to get Elijah but their captain went up the hill to talk to Elijah.

He said, Fire came down from heaven and burned up the other soldiers, Let my life be precious to you and the lives of these men. Don’t call down fire from God.

The Lord said to Elijah then, Go with them and do not be afraid of the king. So Elijah went with the soldiers who took him to the king.

Elijah said to the king, This is what the Lord says, Because you sent men to ask the bad ones instead of Me, you will not get better.

So the king died, just like the Lord said.

This king had no sons, so the king of Judah was king over both Israel and Judah for a while.