< 2 Kings 2 >
1 And it comes to pass, at YHWH’s taking up Elijah to the heavens in a whirlwind, that Elijah goes, and Elisha, from Gilgal,
2 and Elijah says to Elisha, “Please abide here, for YHWH has sent me to Beth-El”; and Elisha says, “YHWH lives, and your soul lives, if I leave you”; and they go down to Beth-El.
3 And sons of the prophets who [are] in Beth-El come out to Elisha, and say to him, “Have you known that today YHWH is taking your lord from your head?” And he says, “I also have known—keep silent.”
4 And Elijah says to him, “Elisha, please abide here, for YHWH has sent me to Jericho”; and he says, “YHWH lives, and your soul lives, if I leave you”; and they come to Jericho.
5 And sons of the prophets who [are] in Jericho come near to Elisha, and say to him, “Have you known that today YHWH is taking your lord from your head?” And he says, “I also have known—keep silent.”
6 And Elijah says to him, “Please abide here, for YHWH has sent me to the Jordan”; and he says, “YHWH lives, and your soul lives, if I leave you”; and both of them go on—
7 and fifty men of the sons of the prophets have gone on, and stand opposite [them] far off—and both of them have stood by the Jordan.
8 And Elijah takes his robe, and wraps [it] together, and strikes the waters, and they are halved, here and there, and both of them pass over on dry land.
9 And it comes to pass, at their passing over, that Elijah has said to Elisha, “Ask what I do for you before I am taken from you.” And Elisha says, “Indeed, please let there be a double portion of your spirit to me”;
10 and he says, “You have asked a hard thing; if you see me taken from you, it is to you so; and if not, it is not.”
11 And it comes to pass, they are going, going on and speaking, and behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire [appear], and they separate between them both, and Elijah goes up to the heavens in a whirlwind.
12 And Elisha is seeing, and he is crying, “My father! My father! The chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” And he has not seen him again; and he takes hold on his garments and tears them into two pieces.
13 And he takes up the robe of Elijah that fell from off him, and turns back and stands on the edge of the Jordan,
14 and he takes the robe of Elijah that fell from off him, and strikes the waters, and says, “Where [is] YHWH, God of Elijah—even He?” And he strikes the waters, and they are halved, here and there, and Elisha passes over.
15 And they see him—the sons of the prophets who [are] in Jericho—from opposite [them], and they say, “The spirit of Elijah has rested on Elisha”; and they come to meet him, and bow themselves to him to the earth,
16 and say to him, “Now behold, there are fifty men with your servants, sons of valor: please let them go, and they seek your lord, lest the Spirit of YHWH has taken him up, and casts him on one of the hills or into one of the valleys”; and he says, “You do not send.”
17 And they press on him, until he is ashamed, and he says, “Send”; and they send fifty men, and they seek three days, and have not found him;
18 and they return to him—and he is abiding in Jericho—and he says to them, “Did I not say to you, Do not go?”
19 And the men of the city say to Elisha, “Now behold, the site of the city [is] good, as my lord sees, and the waters [are] bad, and the earth sterile.”
20 And he says, “Bring a new dish to me, and place salt there”; and they bring [it] to him,
21 and he goes out to the source of the waters, and casts salt there, and says, “Thus said YHWH: I have given healing to these waters; there is not anymore death and sterility there.”
22 And the waters are healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha that he spoke.
23 And he goes up from there to Beth-El, and he is going up in the way, and little youths have come out from the city, and scoff at him, and say to him, “Go up, bald-head! Go up, bald-head!”
24 And he looks behind him, and sees them, and declares them vile in the Name of YHWH, and two bears come out of the forest and ripped apart forty-two of the boys.
25 And he goes from there to the hill of Carmel, and from there he has turned back to Samaria.
