2 Kings 2–4

ELIJAH IN THE WHIRLWIND

2The time had come for the Lord to take Elijah up to heaven^v in a whirlwind.^w Elijah and Elisha^x were traveling from Gilgal,^{y 2}and Elijah said to Elisha,^z “Stay here;^aa the Lord is sending me on to Bethel.”^ab

But Elisha replied, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”^ac So they went down to Bethel.

³Then the sons of the prophets^ad who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today?”^ae

He said, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”

⁴Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here; the Lord is sending me to Jericho.”^a

But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho.

⁵Then the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho came up to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today?”

He said, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”

⁶Elijah said to him, “Stay here; the Lord is sending me to the Jordan.”^b

But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on.

⁷Fifty men from the sons of the prophets came and stood observing them at a distance while the two of them stood by the Jordan. ⁸Elijah took his mantle,^c rolled it up, and struck the water, which parted to the right and left. Then the two of them crossed over on dry ground.^{d 9}When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken from you.”

So Elisha answered, “Please, let me inherit two shares of your spirit.”^e

¹⁰Elijah replied, “You have asked for something difficult. If you see me being taken from you,^f you will have it. If not, you won’t.”

¹¹As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire with horses of fire^g suddenly appeared and separated the two of them. Then Elijah went up into heaven in the whirlwind.^{h 12}As Elisha watched, he kept crying out, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!”ⁱ

ELISHA SUCCEEDS ELIJAH

When he could see him no longer, he took hold of his own clothes, tore them in two,^{j 13}picked up the mantle^k that had fallen off Elijah, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴He took the mantle Elijah had dropped, and he struck the water. “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” he asked. He struck the water himself, and it parted to the right and the left, and Elisha crossed over.

¹⁵When the sons of the prophets from Jericho who were observing saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They came to meet him and bowed down to the ground in front of him.

¹⁶Then the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Since there are fifty strong men here with your servants, please let them go and search for your master. Maybe the Spirit of the Lord has carried him away and put him on one of the mountains or into one of the valleys.”^l

He answered, “Don’t send them.”

¹⁷However, they urged him to the point of embarrassment,^m so he said, “Send them.” They sent fifty men, who looked for three days but did not find him. ¹⁸When they returned to him in Jerichoⁿ where he was staying, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”

¹⁹The men of the city said to Elisha, “My lord can see that even though the city’s location is good, the water is bad and the land unfruitful.”^o

²⁰He replied, “Bring me a new bowl and put salt in it.”^p

After they had brought him one, ²¹Elisha went out to the spring, threw salt in it,^q and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. No longer will death or unfruitfulness result from it.’ ” ²²Therefore, the water still remains healthy today according to the word that Elisha spoke.

²³From there Elisha went up to Bethel.^r As he was walking up the path, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him,^s chanting, “Go up, baldy! Go up, baldy!” ²⁴He turned around, looked at them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord.^t Then two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the children. ²⁵From there Elisha went to Mount Carmel,^u and then he returned to Samaria.^v

ISRAEL’S KING JORAM

3Joram son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria during the eighteenth year of Judah’s King Jehoshaphat, and he reigned twelve years.^{w 2}He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, but not like his father and mother,^x for he removed the sacred pillar of Baal his father had made. ³Nevertheless, Joram clung to the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit.^y He did not turn away from them.

MOAB’S REBELLION AGAINST ISRAEL

⁴King Mesha of Moab^z was a sheep breeder. He used to pay^aa the king of Israel one hundred thousand lambs and the wool of one hundred thousand rams,^{ab 5}but when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.^{ac 6}So King Joram marched out from Samaria at that time and mobilized all Israel. ⁷Then he sent a message to King Jehoshaphat^a of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me.^b Will you go with me to fight against Moab?”

Jehoshaphat said, “I will go. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”^c

⁸He asked, “Which route should we take?”

He replied, “The route of the Wilderness of Edom.”

⁹So the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom^d set out. After they had traveled their indirect route for seven days, they had no water for the army or the animals with them.

¹⁰Then the king of Israel said, “Oh no, the Lord has summoned these three kings, only to hand them over to Moab.”

¹¹But Jehoshaphat said, “Isn’t there a prophet of the Lord here? Let’s inquire of the Lord through him.”^e

One of the servants of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat,^f who used to pour water on Elijah’s hands, is here.”

¹²Jehoshaphat affirmed, “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went to him.^g

¹³However, Elisha said to King Joram of Israel, “What do we have in common? Go to the prophets of your father and your mother!”^h

But the king of Israel replied, “No, because it is the Lord who has summoned these three kings to hand them over to Moab.”

¹⁴Elisha responded, “By the life of the Lord of Armies,ⁱ before whom I stand: If I did not have respect for King Jehoshaphat of Judah,^j I wouldn’t look at you; I would not take notice of you. ¹⁵Now, bring me a musician.”^k

While the musician played,^l the Lord’s hand^m came on Elisha. ¹⁶Then he said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Dig ditch after ditch in this wadi.’ ¹⁷For the Lord says, ‘You will not see wind or rain, but the wadi will be filled with water,ⁿ and you will drink—you and your cattle and your animals.’ ¹⁸This is easy in the Lord’s sight.^o He will also hand Moab over to you.^{p 19}Then you will attack every fortified city and every choice city. You will cut down every good tree and stop up every spring. You will ruin every good piece of land with stones.”

²⁰About the time for the grain offering^q the next morning, water suddenly came from the direction of Edom and filled the land.

²¹All Moab had heard that the kings^r had come up to fight against them. So all who could bear arms, from the youngest to the oldest, were summoned and took their stand at the border. ²²When they got up early in the morning, the sun was shining on the water, and the Moabites saw that the water across from them was red like blood.^{s 23}“This is blood!” they exclaimed. “The kings^t have crossed swords^A and their men have killed one another. So, to the spoil, Moab!”

²⁴However, when the Moabites came to Israel’s camp, the Israelites attacked them, and they fled from them. So Israel went into the land attacking the Moabites. ²⁵They would destroy the cities, and each of them would throw a stone to cover every good piece of land. They would stop up every spring and cut down every good tree. This went on until only the buildings of Kir-hareseth^u were left. Then men with slings surrounded the city and attacked it.

²⁶When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took seven hundred swordsmen with him to try to break through to the king of Edom,^v but they could not do it. ²⁷So he took his firstborn son,^w who was to become king in his place, and offered him as a burnt offering on the city wall. Great wrath was on the Israelites, and they withdrew from him and returned to their land.

THE WIDOW’S OIL MULTIPLIED

4One of the wives of the sons of the prophets^x cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, has died. You know that your servant feared the Lord.^y Now the creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves.”^z

²Elisha asked her, “What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?”

She said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.”^aa

³Then he said, “Go out and borrow empty containers from all your neighbors. Do not get just a few.^{ab 4}Then go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour oil into all these containers. Set the full ones to one side.” ⁵So she left.

After she had shut the door behind her and her sons, they kept bringing her containers, and she kept pouring.^{a 6}When they were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another container.”

But he replied, “There aren’t any more.” Then the oil stopped.

⁷She went and told the man of God,^b and he said, “Go sell the oil and pay your debt; you and your sons can live on the rest.”^c

THE SHUNAMMITE WOMAN’S HOSPITALITY

⁸One day Elisha went to Shunem.^d A prominent woman who lived there persuaded him to eat some food. So whenever he passed by, he stopped there to eat.^{e 9}Then she said to her husband, “I know that the one who often passes by here is a holy man of God, ¹⁰so let’s make a small, walled-in upper room and put a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp there for him. Whenever he comes, he can stay there.”^f

THE SHUNAMMITE WOMAN’S SON

¹¹One day he came there and stopped at the upstairs room to lie down. ¹²He ordered his attendant Gehazi,^g “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her and she stood…