CHAPTER 2
Shortly before
the LORD
took
Elijah
up to heaven
in a whirlwind,
Elijah
and Elisha
were on their way
from
Gilgal,
and Elijah
said
to
Elisha,
“Please
stay
here,
for
the LORD
has sent me
on to
Bethel.”
But Elisha
replied,
“As surely as the LORD
lives
and as you yourself
live,
I will not
leave you.”
So they went down
to
Bethel.
Then the sons
of the prophets
at
Bethel
came out
to
Elisha
and said,
“Do you know
that
the LORD
will take
your master
away from
you
today?”
“Yes,
I
know,”
he replied.
“Do not speak of it.”
And Elijah
said to
Elisha,
“Please
stay
here,
for
the LORD
has sent me
on to Jericho.”
But Elisha replied,
“As surely as the LORD
lives
and as you yourself
live,
I will not
leave you.”
So they went
to Jericho.
Then the sons
of the prophets
at Jericho
came up
to
Elisha
and said,
“Do you know
that
the LORD
will take
your master
away from
you
today?”
“Yes,
I
know,”
he replied.
“Do not speak of it.”
And Elijah
said
to Elisha,
“Please
stay
here,
for
the LORD
has sent me
on to the Jordan.”
But Elisha replied,
“As surely as the LORD
lives
and as you
yourself live,
I will not
leave you.”
So the two of them
went on.
Then a company
of fifty
of the sons
of the prophets
went
and stood
at a distance,
facing Elijah and Elisha
as the two
of them stood
by
the Jordan.
And Elijah
took
his cloak,
rolled it up,
and struck
the waters,
which parted
to the right
and to the left,
so that the two
of them crossed over
on dry ground.
After
they had crossed over,
Elijah
said
to
Elisha,
“Tell me,
what
can I do
for you
before
I am taken away
from you?”
“Please,
let
me inherit
a double
portion
of your spirit,”
Elisha
replied.
“You have requested
a difficult thing,”
said Elijah.
“Nevertheless, if
you see
me
as I am taken
from you,
it will be
yours.
But if
not,
then it will not
be so.”
As they
were walking along
and talking together,
suddenly
a chariot
of fire
with horses
of fire
appeared and separated
the two of them,
and Elijah
went up
into heaven
in a whirlwind.
As Elisha
watched,
he
cried out,
“My father,
my father,
the chariots
and horsemen
of Israel!”
And he saw Elijah
no
more.
So taking hold
of his own clothes,
he tore them
in two.
Elisha also picked up
the cloak
that
had fallen
from
Elijah,
and he went back
and stood
on
the bank
of the Jordan.
Then he took
the cloak
of Elijah
that
had fallen
from him
and struck
the waters.
“Where now is
the LORD,
the God
of Elijah?”
he asked.
And when he had struck
the waters,
they parted
to the right
and to the left,
and Elisha
crossed over.
When the sons
of the prophets
who were
facing him
from Jericho
saw what had happened,
they said,
“The spirit
of Elijah
rests
on
Elisha.”
And they went
to meet him
and bowed down
to the ground
before him.
“Look
now,”
they said
to Elisha,
“we your servants
have
fifty
valiant
men.
Please
let them go
and search for
your master.
Perhaps
the Spirit
of the LORD
has taken him up
and put him
on one
of the mountains
or
in one
of the valleys.”
“Do not
send them,”
Elisha replied.
But when they pressed
him
to the point of
embarrassment,
he said,
“Send them.”
And they sent
fifty
men,
who searched for
three
days
but did not
find Elijah.
When they returned
to Elisha,
who
was staying
in Jericho,
he said
to them,
“Didn't
I tell
you
not
to go?”
Then the men
of the city
said
to
Elisha,
“Please
note,
our lord,
that the city’s
location
is good,
but the water
is bad
and the land
is unfruitful.”
and Elisha went out
to
the spring,
cast
the salt into it,
and said,
“This is what
the LORD
says:
‘I have healed
this
water.
No
longer
will it cause
death
or unfruitfulness.’”
From there,
Elisha went up
to
Bethel,
and as he
was walking up
the road,
a group of young men
came out
of
the city
and jeered at
him,
chanting,
“Go up,
you baldhead!
Go up,
you baldhead!”
Then he turned
around,
looked at them,
and called down a curse on them
in the name
of the LORD.
Suddenly two
female bears
came out
of
the woods
and mauled
forty-two
of the young men.