2 Kings 2
1 When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha set out from Gilgal.
2 Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, because the LORD has sent me to Bethel.” Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.
3 The sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to meet Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the LORD is going to take your master away from you?” He replied, “I know too. Be quiet.”
4 Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please stay here, because the LORD has sent me to Jericho.” He replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho.
5 The sons of the prophets who were in Jericho came up to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the LORD is going to take your master away from you?” He replied, “I know too. Be quiet.”
6 Elijah said to him, “Please stay here, because the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.” He replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on.
7 Fifty men from among the sons of the 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. The water parted to one side and the other, and the two of them crossed on dry ground.
9 After they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I should do for you before I am taken away from you.” Elisha replied, “Please let me have a double share of your spirit.”
10 He said, “You have asked for a difficult thing. If you see me when I am taken away from you, it will be yours; if not, it will not.”
11 As they walked along, talking, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire came between them and separated 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!” He saw him no more. Then he seized his clothes and tore them in two.
13 He picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen from him, went back, and stood on the bank of the Jordan.
14 He took Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen from him, struck the water, and said, “Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” He too struck the water, and it parted to one side and the other, and Elisha crossed over.
15 The sons of the prophets who were in Jericho saw him from a distance and said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They went out to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him.
16 They said to him, “Look, among your servants are fifty strong men. Please let them go and search for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has carried him away and dropped him on some mountain or in some valley.” He replied, “Do not send them.”
17 But they kept pressing him until he was embarrassed, so he said, “Send them.” Then they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find him.
18 When they returned to him, while he was staying in Jericho, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t go’?”
19 The men of the city said to Elisha, “Look, the city is in a good location, as my lord can see, but the water is bad, and the land causes miscarriages.”
20 He said, “Bring me a new bowl and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.
21 He went out to the spring, threw the salt into it, and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘I have healed these waters. No more death or miscarriage will come from them.’”
22 The waters have been healed to this day, just as Elisha had said.
23 From there he went up to Bethel. As he was going up the road, some young boys came out of the city, mocked him, and said, “Go up, baldhead! Go up, baldhead!”
24 He turned around, looked at them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two female bears came out of the forest and mauled forty-two of the children.
25 From there he went to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.
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