2 Kings 2–4

Elijah Is Taken to Heaven

2It was almost time for the Lord to take Elijah by a whirlwind up into heaven. While Elijah and Elisha were leaving Gilgal, ²Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here. The Lord has told me to go to Bethel.”

But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you live, I won’t leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. ³The groups of prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know the Lord will take your master away from you today?”

Elisha said, “Yes, I know, but don’t talk about it.”

⁴Elijah said to him, “Stay here, Elisha, because the Lord has sent me to Jericho.”

But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you live, I won’t leave you.”

So they went to Jericho. ⁵The groups of prophets at Jericho came to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today?”

Elisha answered, “Yes, I know, but don’t talk about it.”

⁶Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here. The Lord has sent me to the Jordan River.”

Elisha answered, “As the Lord lives, and as you live, I won’t leave you.”

So the two of them went on. ⁷Fifty men of the groups of prophets came and stood far from where Elijah and Elisha were by the Jordan. ⁸Elijah took off his coat, rolled it up, and hit the water. The water divided to the right and to the left, and Elijah and Elisha crossed over on dry ground.

⁹After they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “What can I do for you before I am taken from you?”

Elisha said, “Leave me a double share of your spirit.” ⁿ

¹⁰Elijah said, “You have asked a hard thing. But if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours. If you don’t, it won’t happen.”

¹¹As they were walking and talking, a chariot and horses of fire appeared and separated Elijah from Elisha. Then Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. ¹²Elisha saw it and shouted, “My father! My father! The chariots of Israel and their horsemen!” And Elisha did not see him anymore. Then Elisha grabbed his own clothes and tore them to show how sad he was.

¹³He picked up Elijah’s coat that had fallen from him. Then he returned and stood on the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴Elisha hit the water with Elijah’s coat and said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” When he hit the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and Elisha crossed over.

¹⁵The groups of prophets at Jericho were watching and said, “Elisha now has the spirit Elijah had.” And they came to meet him, bowing down to the ground before him. ¹⁶They said to him, “There are fifty strong men with us. Please let them go and look for your master. Maybe the Spirit of the Lord has taken Elijah up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley.”

But Elisha answered, “No, don’t send them.”

¹⁷When the groups of prophets had begged Elisha until he couldn’t refuse them anymore, he said, “Send them.” So they sent fifty men who looked for three days, but they could not find him. ¹⁸Then they came back to Elisha at Jericho where he was staying. He said to them, “I told you not to go, didn’t I?”

Elisha Makes the Water Pure

¹⁹The people of the city said to Elisha, “Look, master, this city is a nice place to live as you can see. But the water is so bad the land cannot grow crops.”

²⁰Elisha said, “Bring me a new bowl and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.

²¹Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt in it. He said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. From now on it won’t cause death, and it won’t keep the land from growing crops.’ ” ²²So the water has been healed to this day just as Elisha had said.

Boys Make Fun of Elisha

²³From there Elisha went up to Bethel. On the way some boys came out of the city and made fun of him. They said to him, “Go up too, you baldhead! Go up too, you baldhead!” ²⁴Elisha turned around, looked at them, and put a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two mother bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys to pieces. ²⁵Elisha went to Mount Carmel and from there he returned to Samaria.

War Between Israel and Moab

3Joram son of Ahab became king over Israel at Samaria in Jehoshaphat’s eighteenth year as king of Judah. And Joram ruled twelve years. ²He did what the Lord said was wrong, but he was not like his father and mother; he removed the stone pillars his father had made for Baal. ³But he continued to sin like Jeroboam son of Nebat who had led Israel to sin. Joram did not stop doing these same sins.

⁴Mesha king of Moab raised sheep. He paid the king of Israel one hundred thousand lambs and the wool of one hundred thousand sheep. ⁵But when Ahab died, the king of Moab turned against the king of Israel. ⁶So King Joram went out from Samaria and gathered Israel’s army. ⁷He also sent messengers to Jehoshaphat king of Judah. “The king of Moab has turned against me,” he said. “Will you go with me to fight Moab?”

Jehoshaphat replied, “I will go with you. My soldiers and my horses are yours.”

⁸Jehoshaphat asked, “Which way should we attack?”

Joram answered, “Through the Desert of Edom.”

⁹So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. After they had marched seven days, there was no more water for the army or for their animals that were with them. ¹⁰The king of Israel said, “This is terrible! The Lord has called us three kings together to hand us over to the Moabites!”

¹¹But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there a prophet of the Lord here? We can ask the Lord through him.”

An officer of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He was Elijah’s servant.”

¹²Jehoshaphat said, “He speaks the Lord’s truth.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to see Elisha.

¹³Elisha said to the king of Israel, “I have nothing to do with you. Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother!”

The king of Israel said to Elisha, “No, the Lord has called us three kings together to hand us over to the Moabites.”

¹⁴Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord All-Powerful lives, whom I serve, I tell you the truth. I wouldn’t even look at you or notice you if Jehoshaphat king of Judah were not here. I respect him. ¹⁵Now bring me someone who plays the harp.”

While the harp was being played, the Lord gave Elisha power. ¹⁶Then Elisha said, “The Lord says to dig holes in the valley. ¹⁷The Lord says you won’t see wind or rain, but the valley will be filled with water. Then you, your cattle, and your other animals can drink. ¹⁸This is easy for the Lord to do; he will also hand Moab over to you. ¹⁹You will destroy every strong, walled city and every important town. You will cut down every good tree and stop up all springs. You will ruin every good field with rocks.”

²⁰The next morning, about the time the sacrifice was offered, water came from the direction of Edom and filled the valley.

²¹All the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them. So they gathered everyone old enough to put on armor and waited at the border. ²²But when the Moabites got up early in the morning, the sun was shining on the water. They saw the water across from them, and it looked as red as blood. ²³Then they said, “This is blood! The kings must have fought and killed each other! Come, Moabites, let’s take the valuables from the dead bodies!”

²⁴When the Moabites came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites came out and fought them until they ran away. Then the Israelites went on into the land, killing the Moabites. ²⁵They tore down the cities and threw rocks all over every good field. They stopped up all the springs and cut down all the good trees. Kir Hareseth was the only city with its stones still in place, but the men with slingshots surrounded it and conquered it, too.

²⁶When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too much for him, he took seven hundred men with swords to try to break through to the king of Edom. But they could not break through. ²⁷Then the king of Moab took his oldest son, who would have been king after him, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. So there was great anger against the Israelites, who left and went back to their own land.

A Widow Asks Elisha for Help

4The wife of a man from the groups of prophets said to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead. You know he honored the Lord. But now the man he owes money to is coming to take my two boys as his slaves!”

²Elisha answered, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

The woman said, “I don’t have anything there except a pot of oil.”

³Then Elisha said, “Go and get empty jars from all your neighbors. Don’t ask for just a few. ⁴Then go into your house and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and set the full ones aside.”

⁵So she left Elisha and shut the door behind her and her sons. As they brought the jars to her, she poured out the oil. ⁶When the jars were all full, she said to her son, “Bring me another jar.”

But he said, “There are no more jars.” Then the oil stopped flowing.

⁷She went and told Elisha. And the prophet said to her, “Go, sell the oil and pay what you owe. You and your sons can live on what is left.”

The Shunammite Woman

⁸One day Elisha went to Shunem, where an important woman lived. She begged Elisha to stay and eat. So every time Elisha passed by, he stopped there to eat. ⁹The woman said to her husband, “I know that this is a holy man of God who passes by our house all the time. ¹⁰Let’s make a small room on the roof ⁿ and put a bed in the room for him. We can put a table, a chair, and a lampstand there. Then when he comes by, he can stay there.”

¹¹One day Elisha came to the woman’s house. After he went to his room and rested, ¹²he said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite woman.”

When the servant had called her, she stood in front of him. ¹³Elisha had told his servant, “Now say to her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. What can I do for you? Do you want me to speak to the king or the commander of the army for you?’ ”

She answered, “I live among my own people.”

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