Translation choice · documented · Divine Council
What the source reads — Baal-zebul — 'Baal the Prince' (zebul, 'prince / exalted', is Baal's own title at Ugarit); the storm-god of Ekron
What this version reads — Baal-zebub — 'lord of the flies': the Hebrew twists his title by a letter, and by the Gospels the name is Beelzebub, 'prince of the demons' (Matthew 12:24)
Baal means 'lord'; at Ugarit his title was zebul, 'prince' — Baal-zebul, 'Baal the Prince'. In 2 Kings the Hebrew shifts it by one letter to Baal-zebub, 'lord of the flies' — the exalted god turned fly-god as an insult. By the Gospels the name has become Beelzebub, 'the prince of the demons' (Matthew 12:24), and a neighbour's storm-god ends up the ruler of hell itself. Lord → lord of flies → lord of demons: a title demoted, step by step, into the devil.
Read this chapter side by side — 2 Kings 1:2 →