The Second of Kings 2:1-25
2 When Jehovah was about to take E·liʹjah+ up to the heavens* in a windstorm,+ E·liʹjah and E·liʹsha+ went out from Gilʹgal.+
2 E·liʹjah said to E·liʹsha: “Stay here, please, because Jehovah has sent me on to Bethʹel.” But E·liʹsha said: “As surely as Jehovah is living and as you are* living, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethʹel.+
3 Then the sons of the prophets* in Bethʹel came out to E·liʹsha and said to him: “Do you know that today Jehovah is taking your master away from headship over you?”+ At this he said: “I already know it. Be silent.”
4 E·liʹjah now said to him: “E·liʹsha, stay here, please, because Jehovah has sent me on to Jerʹi·cho.”+ But he said: “As surely as Jehovah is living and as you are* living, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jerʹi·cho.
5 Then the sons of the prophets who were in Jerʹi·cho approached E·liʹsha and said to him: “Do you know that today Jehovah is taking your master away from headship over you?” At this he said: “I already know it. Be silent.”
6 E·liʹjah now said to him: “Stay here, please, because Jehovah has sent me on to the Jordan.” But he said: “As surely as Jehovah is living and as you are* living, I will not leave you.” So both of them went on.
7 And 50 of the sons of the prophets also went and stood watching from a distance while the two of them stood by the Jordan.
8 Then E·liʹjah took his official garment+ and rolled it up and struck the waters, and they were divided to the left and to the right, so that both of them went across on the dry ground.+
9 As soon as they had gone across, E·liʹjah said to E·liʹsha: “Ask what you want me to do for you before I am taken from you.” So E·liʹsha said: “Please, may I receive a double portion*+ of your spirit?”+
10 He replied: “You have asked a difficult thing. If you see me when I am taken from you, it will happen for you that way; but if you do not, it will not happen.”
11 As they were walking along, speaking as they walked, suddenly a fiery chariot and fiery horses+ made a separation between the two of them, and E·liʹjah ascended to the heavens* in the windstorm.+
12 While E·liʹsha was watching, he was crying out: “My father, my father! The chariot of Israel and his horsemen!”+ When he could no longer see him, he took hold of his own garments and ripped them into two pieces.+
13 After that he picked up the official garment+ of E·liʹjah that had fallen off him and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan.
14 Then he took the official garment of E·liʹjah that had fallen off him and struck the waters and said: “Where is Jehovah, the God of E·liʹjah?” When he struck the waters, they were divided to the left and to the right, so that E·liʹsha went across.+
15 When the sons of the prophets at Jerʹi·cho saw him from a distance, they said: “The spirit of E·liʹjah has settled down on E·liʹsha.”+ So they went to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him.
16 They said to him: “Here are 50 capable men with your servants. Let them go, please, to look for your master. Perhaps the spirit* of Jehovah has lifted him up and then thrown him on one of the mountains or in one of the valleys.”+ But he said: “Do not send them.”
17 However, they kept urging him until he was embarrassed, so he said: “Send them.” They sent the 50 men, who kept looking for three days but did not find him.
18 When they returned to him, he was staying in Jerʹi·cho.+ Then he said to them: “Did I not tell you not to go?”
19 In time the men of the city said to E·liʹsha: “My master can see that the city is well-situated;+ but the water is bad, and the land is barren.”*
20 At that he said: “Bring me a small new bowl and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.
21 Then he went out to the source of the water and threw salt into it+ and said: “This is what Jehovah says, ‘I have healed this water. No more will it cause death or barrenness.’”*
22 And the water has been healed down to this day, according to the word spoken by E·liʹsha.
23 He went up from there to Bethʹel. As he was going along the way, some young boys came out from the city and began to jeer at him,+ and they kept saying to him: “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!”
24 Finally he turned around and looked at them and cursed them in the name of Jehovah. Then two she-bears+ came out of the forest and tore 42 of the children to pieces.+
25 He kept going from there to Mount Carʹmel,+ and from there he returned to Sa·marʹi·a.
Footnotes
^ Or “sky.”
^ Or “your soul is.”
^ “The sons of the prophets” seems to refer to a school of instruction for prophets or to an association of prophets.
^ Or “your soul is.”
^ Or “your soul is.”
^ Or “two parts.”
^ Or “sky.”
^ Or “wind.”
^ Or possibly, “causing miscarriages.”
^ Or possibly, “miscarriages.”