2 Kings 1–2

The Lord’s Judgment on Ahaziah

1After Ahab’s death, Moab^a rebelled against Israel. ²Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers,^b saying to them, “Go and consult Baal-Zebub,^c the god of Ekron,^d to see if I will recover^e from this injury.”

³But the angel^f of the Lord said to Elijah^g the Tishbite, “Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel^h that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’ ⁴Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘You will not leaveⁱ the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!’ ” So Elijah went.

⁵When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you come back?”

⁶“A man came to meet us,” they replied. “And he said to us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, “This is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not leave^j the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!” ’ ”

⁷The king asked them, “What kind of man was it who came to meet you and told you this?”

⁸They replied, “He had a garment of hair^ak and had a leather belt around his waist.”

The king said, “That was Elijah the Tishbite.”

⁹Then he sent^l to Elijah a captain^m with his company of fifty men. The captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!’ ”

¹⁰Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then fireⁿ fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men.

¹¹At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. The captain said to him, “Man of God, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!’ ”

¹²“If I am a man of God,” Elijah replied, “may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.

¹³So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. “Man of God,” he begged, “please have respect for my life^o and the lives of these fifty men, your servants! ¹⁴See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!”

¹⁵The angel^p of the Lord said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid^q of him.” So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.

¹⁶He told the king, “This is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no God in Israel for you to consult that you have sent messengers^r to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Because you have done this, you will never leave^s the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!” ¹⁷So he died,^t according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken.

Because Ahaziah had no son, Joram^bu succeeded him as king in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. ¹⁸As for all the other events of Ahaziah’s reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?

Elijah Taken Up to Heaven

2When the Lord was about to take^v Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind,^w Elijah and Elisha^x were on their way from Gilgal.^{y 2}Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here;^z the Lord has sent me to Bethel.”

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

³The company^b of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, “Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?”

“Yes, I know,” Elisha replied, “so be quiet.”

⁴Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me to Jericho.^c”

And he replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho.

⁵The company^d of the prophets at Jericho went up to Elisha and asked him, “Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?”

“Yes, I know,” he replied, “so be quiet.”

⁶Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here;^e the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.”^f

And he replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.”^g So the two of them walked on.

⁷Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. ⁸Elijah took his cloak,^h rolled it up and struckⁱ the water with it. The water divided^j to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry^k ground.

⁹When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”

“Let me inherit a double^l portion of your spirit,”^m Elisha replied.

¹⁰“You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”

¹¹As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fireⁿ and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven^o in a whirlwind.^{p 12}Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots^q and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore^r it in two.

¹³Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴He took the cloak^s that had fallen from Elijah and struck^t the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.

¹⁵The company^u of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, “The spirit^v of Elijah is resting on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. ¹⁶“Look,” they said, “we your servants have fifty able men. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit^w of the Lord has picked him up^x and set him down on some mountain or in some valley.”

“No,” Elisha replied, “do not send them.”

¹⁷But they persisted until he was too embarrassed^y to refuse. So he said, “Send them.” And they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find him. ¹⁸When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”

Healing of the Water

¹⁹The people of the city said to Elisha, “Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive.”

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

²¹Then he went out to the spring and threw^z the salt into it, saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.’ ” ²²And the water has remained pure^a to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.

Elisha Is Jeered

²³From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered^b at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” ²⁴He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse^c on them in the name^d of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. ²⁵And he went on to Mount Carmel^e and from there returned to Samaria.