2 Kings 2

2 ¹ Now when our Father was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. ² Elijah said to Elisha, "Please stay here, for our Father has sent me on to Bethel." But Elisha said, "As our Father lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.

³ The group of prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked him, "Do you know that today our Father will take your master away from you?" "Yes, I know," he replied. "Be quiet."

⁴ Then Elijah said to him, "Elisha, please stay here, for our Father has sent me to Jericho." But he said, "As our Father lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So they went to Jericho.

⁵ The group of prophets at Jericho came up to Elisha and asked him, "Do you know that today our Father will take your master away from you?" "Yes, I know," he replied. "Be quiet."

⁶ Then Elijah said to him, "Please stay here, for our Father has sent me to the Jordan." And he said, "As our Father lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So the two of them walked on.

⁷ Fifty men from the group of prophets went and stood facing them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan. ⁸ Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground. ⁹ When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken from you." "Please let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied.

¹⁰ "You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said. "Yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours; but if not, it will not."

¹¹ As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. ¹² Elisha saw it and cried out, "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!" And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two.

¹³ He picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴ Then he took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. "Where now is our Father, the God of Elijah?" he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and Elisha crossed over.

The Father's Spirit Rests on Elisha

¹⁵ When the group of prophets from Jericho, who were watching, saw this, they said, "The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha." And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. ¹⁶ "Look," they said, "we your servants have fifty able men. Let them go and search for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of our Father has caught him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley." "No," Elisha replied, "do not send them."

¹⁷ But they pressed him until he was ashamed to refuse. "Send them," he said. So they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find him.

¹⁸ When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he said to them, "Did I not tell you not to go?"

The Father Heals Jericho's Waters

¹⁹ The people of the city said to Elisha, "Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unfruitful."

²⁰ "Bring me a new bowl," he said, "and put salt in it." So they brought it to him.

²¹ Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, "This is what our Father says: I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unfruitful."

²² And the water has remained pure to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.

The Boys Who Mocked Elisha

²³ From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go up, you baldhead!" ²⁴ He turned around, looked at them, and called down a curse on them in the name of our Father. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. ²⁵ And Elisha went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria.