2 Kings 2–4

Chapter 2

¹And it came to pass when Jehovah would take up Elijah into the heavens by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. ²And Elijah said to Elisha, Abide here, I pray thee; for Jehovah has sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said, As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee! So they went down to Bethel. ³And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said to him, Dost thou know that Jehovah will take away thy master from over thy head to-day? And he said, I also know it: be silent! ⁴And Elijah said to him, Elisha, abide here, I pray thee; for Jehovah has sent me to Jericho. And he said, As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee! And they came to Jericho. ⁵And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, Dost thou know that Jehovah will take away thy master from over thy head to-day? And he said, I also know it: be silent! ⁶And Elijah said to him, Abide here, I pray thee; for Jehovah has sent me to the Jordan. And he said, As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee! And they two went on. ⁷And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood opposite afar off; and they two stood by the Jordan. ⁸And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither; and they two went over on dry ground.

⁹And it came to pass when they had gone over, that Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I am taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. ¹⁰And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so to thee; but if not, it shall not be so. ¹¹And it came to pass as they went on, and talked, that behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire; and they parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into the heavens. ¹²And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof! And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own garments and rent them in two pieces.

¹³And he took up the mantle of Elijah which fell from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan; ¹⁴and he took the mantle of Elijah which had fallen from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is Jehovah, the God of Elijah? He also smote the waters, and they parted hither and thither, and Elisha went over. ¹⁵And the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho on the opposite side saw him, and they said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him, ¹⁶and said to him, Behold now, there are with thy servants fifty valiant men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master, lest perhaps the Spirit of Jehovah have taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some ravine. And he said, Ye shall not send. ¹⁷And they pressed him till he was ashamed, and he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men, and they sought three days, but did not find him. ¹⁸And they came again to him (now he was staying at Jericho); and he said to them, Did I not say to you, Go not?

¹⁹And the men of the city said to Elisha, Behold now, the situation of the city is good, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the land is barren. ²⁰And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt in it. And they brought it to him. ²¹And he went forth to the source of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith Jehovah: I have healed these waters: there shall not be from thence any more death or barrenness. ²²And the waters were healed to this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spoke. ²³And he went up from thence to Bethel, and as he went up by the way, there came forth little boys out of the city, and mocked him, and said to him, Go up, bald head; go up, bald head! ²⁴And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of Jehovah. And there came forth two she-bears out of the wood, and tore forty-two children of them. ²⁵And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria.

Chapter 3

¹And Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; and he reigned twelve years. ²And he wrought evil in the sight of Jehovah, but not like his father, and like his mother; and he took away the column of Baal that his father had made. ³Only, he clave to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin: he did not depart therefrom. ⁴And Mesha king of Moab was a sheepmaster, and rendered to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams, with the wool. ⁵And it came to pass when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

⁶And at that time king Jehoram went out of Samaria and inspected all Israel. ⁷And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah saying, The king of Moab has rebelled against me: wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up: I am as thou, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses. ⁸And he said, Which way shall we go up? And he said, By way of the wilderness of Edom. ⁹And the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom, and they made a circuit of seven days’ journey. And there was no water for the army, and for the cattle that followed them. ¹⁰And the king of Israel said, Alas! that Jehovah has called these three kings together, to give them into the hand of Moab! ¹¹And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah that we may inquire of Jehovah by him? And one of the king of Israel’s servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah. ¹²And Jehoshaphat said, The word of Jehovah is with him. And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. ¹³And Elisha said to the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? go to the prophets of thy father and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said to him, Not so, for Jehovah has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab. ¹⁴And Elisha said, As Jehovah of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee nor see thee. ¹⁵And now fetch me a minstrel. And it came to pass when the minstrel played, that the hand of Jehovah was upon him. ¹⁶And he said, Thus saith Jehovah: Make this valley full of ditches. ¹⁷For thus saith Jehovah: Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet this valley shall be filled with water, and ye shall drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts. ¹⁸And this is a light thing in the sight of Jehovah: he will give the Moabites also into your hand. ¹⁹And ye shall smite every fortified city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.

²⁰And it came to pass in the morning, when the oblation was offered up, that behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water. ²¹And all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, and they were called together, all that were able to put on armour, and upward, and stood by the border. ²²And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun rose upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side red as blood. ²³And they said, This is blood: the kings are entirely destroyed, and have smitten one another; and now, Moab, to the spoil! ²⁴And when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, and they fled before them; and they entered in and smote Moab. ²⁵And they beat down the cities, and on every good piece of land cast every man his stone and filled it, and they stopped every well of water, and felled every good tree, until they left only the stones at Kirhareseth; and the slingers went about it, and smote it. ²⁶And the king of Moab saw that the battle was too severe for him, and he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords, to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not. ²⁷And he took his eldest son, that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him up for a burnt-offering upon the wall. And there was great wrath against Israel; and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.

Chapter 4

¹And a woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha saying, Thy servant my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant feared Jehovah; and the creditor is come to take my two children to be bondmen. ²And Elisha said to her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thy handmaid has not anything at all in the house but a pot of oil. ³And he said, Go, borrow for thyself vessels abroad from all thy neighbours, empty vessels; let it not be few; ⁴and go in, and shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and pour out into all those vessels, and set aside what is full. ⁵And she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons: they brought the vessels to her, and she poured out. ⁶And it came to pass when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said to her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. ⁷And she came and told the man of God; and he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy sons on the rest.

⁸And it came to pass on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a wealthy woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. ⁹And she said to her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us continually. ¹⁰Let us make, I pray thee, a small upper chamber with walls, and let us set for him…