2 Kings 2

¹ And it comes to pass, at Yahweh's taking up Elijah in a whirlwind to the heavens, that Elijah goes, and Elisha, from Gilgal, ² and Elijah said unto Elisha, "Abide, I pray you, here, for Yahweh has sent me unto Beth-El"; and Elisha said, "Yahweh lives, and your soul lives, if I leave you"; and they go down to Beth-El. ³ And sons of the prophets who [are] in Beth-El come out unto Elisha, and say unto him, "Have you known that to-day Yahweh is taking your lord from your head?" and he said, "I also have known - keep silent." ⁴ And Elijah said to him, "Elisha, abide, I pray you, here, for Yahweh has sent me to Jericho"; and he said, "Yahweh lives, and your soul lives, if I leave you"; and they come in to Jericho. ⁵ And sons of the prophets who [are] in Jericho come nigh unto Elisha, and say unto him, "Have you known that to-day Yahweh is taking your lord from your head?" and he said, "I also have known - keep silent." ⁶ And Elijah said to him, "Abide, I pray you, here, for Yahweh has sent me to the Jordan"; and he said, "Yahweh lives, and your soul lives, if I leave you"; and they go on both of them, ⁷ and fifty men of the sons of the prophets have gone on, and stand over-against afar off - and both of them have stood by the Jordan. ⁸ And Elijah takes his robe, and wraps [it] together, and smites the waters, and they are halved, hither and thither, and they pass over both of them on dry land. ⁹ And it comes to pass, at their passing over, that Elijah has said unto Elisha, "Ask, what do I do for you before I am taken from you?" and Elisha said, "Then let there be, I pray you, a double portion of your spirit unto me"; ¹⁰ and he said, "You have asked a hard thing; if you do see me taken from you, it is to you so; and if not, it is not." ¹¹ And it comes to pass, they are going, going on and speaking, and lo, a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and they separate between them both, and Elijah goes up in a whirlwind, to the heavens. ¹² And Elisha is seeing, and he is crying, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and its horsemen"; and he has not seen him again; and he takes hold on his garments, and rends them into two pieces. ¹³ And he takes up the robe of Elijah, that fell from off him, and turns back and stands on the edge of the Jordan, ¹⁴ and he takes the robe of Elijah that fell from off him, and smites the waters, and said, "Where [is] Yahweh, Elohim of Elijah - even He?" and he smites the waters, and they are halved, hither and thither, and Elisha passes over. ¹⁵ And they see him - the sons of the prophets who [are] in Jericho - over-against, and they say, "Rested has the spirit of Elijah on Elisha"; and they come to meet him, and bow themselves to him to the earth, ¹⁶ and say unto him, "Lo, we pray you, there are with your servants fifty men, sons of valor: let them go, we pray you, and they seek your lord, lest the Spirit of Yahweh has taken him up, and does cast him on one of the hills, or into one of the valleys"; and he said, "You do not send." ¹⁷ And they press upon him, till he is ashamed, and he said, "Send you"; and they send fifty men, and they seek three days, and have not found him; ¹⁸ and they turn back unto him - and he is abiding in Jericho - and he said unto them, "Did I not say unto you, Do not go?" ¹⁹ And the men of the city say unto Elisha, "Lo, we pray you, the site of the city [is] good, as my lord sees, and the waters [are] bad, and the earth sterile." ²⁰ And he said, "Bring to me a new dish, and place there salt"; and they bring [it] unto him, ²¹ and he goes out unto the source of the waters, and casts there salt, and said, "Thus said Yahweh, I have given healing to these waters; there is not thence any more death and sterility." ²² And the waters are healed unto this day, according to the word of Elisha, that he spoke. ²³ And he goes up thence to Beth-El, and he is going up in the way, and little youths have come out from the city, and scoff at him, and say to him, "Go up, bald-head! go up, bald-head!" ²⁴ And he looks behind him, and sees them, and declares them vile in the name of Yahweh, and two bears come out of the forest, and rend of them forty and two lads. ²⁵ And he goes thence unto the hill of Carmel, and thence he has turned back to Samaria.