2 Kings 2–4

2And it came to pass, when the Lord would ^atake up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with ^bElisha from ^cGilgal. ²And Elijah said unto Elisha, ^dTarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to ^eBeth-el. And Elisha said unto him, ^fAs the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Beth-el. ³And ^gthe sons of the prophets that were at Beth-el came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master ^hfrom thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. ⁴And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to ⁱJericho. And he said, ^fAs the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. ⁵And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master ^hfrom thy head to day? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. ⁶And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, ^fAs the Lord 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 ^†to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan. ⁸And Elijah took ^khis mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and ^mthey were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground. ⁹And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let ⁿa double portion of thy spirit be upon me. ¹⁰And he said, ^†Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. ¹¹And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared ^oa chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and ^pElijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. ¹²And Elisha saw it, and he cried, ^qMy father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and ^rrent them in two pieces. ¹³He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the ^†bank of Jordan; ¹⁴And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, ^sthey parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over. ¹⁵And when the sons of the prophets which were ^tto view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. ¹⁶And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty ^†strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure ^uthe Spirit of the Lord hath taken him up, and cast him upon ^†some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send. ¹⁷And when they urged him ^xtill he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not. ¹⁸And when they came again to him, (for he tarried at Jericho,) he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not?

¹⁹And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground ^†barren. ²⁰And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. ²¹And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and ^ycast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren ^zland. ²²So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.

²³And he went up from thence unto Beth-el: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth ^alittle ^bchildren out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. ²⁴And he turned back, and looked on them, and ^ccursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two ^dchildren of them. ²⁵And he went from thence to mount ^eCarmel, and from thence he returned to ^fSamaria.

3Now ^aJehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years. ^2*And he wrought evil in the sight of the Lord; but not like his father, and like his mother: for he put away the ^†image of Baal ^bthat his father had made. ³Nevertheless he cleaved unto ^cthe sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^dwhich made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom. ⁴And Mesha king of Moab was a ^esheepmaster, and rendered unto the king of Israel an hundred thousand ^flambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with the wool. ⁵But it came to pass, when ^gAhab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. ⁶And king Jehoram went out of Samaria the same time, and numbered all Israel. ^7*And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab hath rebelled against me: wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up: ⁱI am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses as thy horses. ⁸And he said, Which way shall we go up? And he answered, The way through the wilderness of Edom. ⁹So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and ^kthe king of Edom: and they fetched a compass of seven days’ journey: and there was no water for the host, and for the cattle that ^†followed them. ¹⁰And the king of Israel said, ^lAlas! that the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab! ¹¹But ^mJehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him? And ⁿone of the king of Israel’s servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, ^owhich poured water on the hands of Elijah. ¹²And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. ¹³And Elisha said unto the king of Israel, ^pWhat have I to do with thee? ^qget thee to the prophets of thy father, and to ^rthe prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, Nay: for the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab. ¹⁴And Elisha said, ^sAs the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I ^tregard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee. ¹⁵But now bring me ^ua minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that ^wthe hand of the Lord came upon him. ¹⁶And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ^xditches. ¹⁷For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts. ¹⁸And this is but ^ya light thing in the sight of the Lord: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand. ¹⁹And ye shall smite every fenced 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 ^zthe meat offering was offered, that, behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.

²¹And when all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, they ^†gathered all that were able to ^†put on armour, and upward, and stood in the border. ²²And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood: ²³And they said, This is blood: the kings are surely ^†slain, and they have smitten one another: now therefore, Moab, to the spoil. ²⁴And when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, so that they fled before them: but ^||they went forward smiting the Moabites, even in their country. ²⁵And they beat down the cities, and ^aon every good piece of land cast every man his stone, and filled it; and they stopped all the wells of water, and felled all the good trees: ^†only in ^bKir-haraseth left they the stones thereof; howbeit the slingers went about it, and smote it. ²⁶And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men ^cthat drew swords, to break through even unto the king of Edom: but they could not. ²⁷Then ^dhe took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great indignation against Israel: and they departed from him, and ^ereturned to their own land.

4Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of ^athe sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and ^bthe creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. ²And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil. ³Then he said, Go, ^cborrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; ^||borrow not a few. ⁴And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. ⁵So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. ⁶And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. ⁷Then she came and told ^dthe man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy ^||debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.

⁸And ^†it fell on a day,…