Elijah Taken to Heaven

2 Now when the Lord was about to ^(A)take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and ^(B)Elisha were on their way from ^(C)Gilgal. ² And Elijah said to Elisha, ^(D)“Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, ^(E)“As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. ³ And ^(F)the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he said, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”

⁴ Elijah said to him, “Elisha, ^(G)please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to ^(H)Jericho.” But he said, ^(I)“As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho. ^5 (J)The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”

⁶ Then Elijah said to him, ^(K)“Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. ⁷ Fifty men of ^(L)the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. ⁸ Then Elijah ^(M)took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water, ^(N)and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground.

⁹ When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.” ¹⁰ And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.” ¹¹ And as they still went on and talked, behold, ^(O)chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. ¹² And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! ^(P)The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more.

Then he took hold of his own clothes ^(Q)and tore them in two pieces. ¹³ And he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴ Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” And when he had struck the water, ^(R)the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.

Elisha Succeeds Elijah

¹⁵ Now when ^(S)the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him opposite them, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. ¹⁶ And they said to him, “Behold now, there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master. It may be that ^(T)the Spirit of the Lord has caught him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley.” And he said, “You shall not send.” ¹⁷ But when they urged him ^(U)till he was ashamed, he said, “Send.” They sent therefore fifty men. And for three days they sought him but did not find him. ¹⁸ And they came back to him while he was staying at Jericho, and he said to them, “Did I not say to you, ‘Do not go’?”

¹⁹ Now the men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful.” ²⁰ He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. ²¹ Then he went to the spring of water and ^(V)threw salt in it and said, “Thus says the Lord, I have healed this water; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.” ²² So the water has been healed to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.

²³ He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” ²⁴ And he turned around, and when he saw them, ^(W)he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys. ²⁵ From there he went on to ^(X)Mount Carmel, and from there he returned ^(Y)to Samaria.

Paul Accepted by the Apostles

2 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. ² I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those ^(A)who seemed influential) the gospel that ^(B)I proclaim among the Gentiles, ^(C)in order to make sure I was not running or had not ^(D)run in vain. ³ But even Titus, who was with me, ^(E)was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. ^4 (F)Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who ^(G)slipped in to spy out ^(H)our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, ^(I)so that they might bring us into slavery— ⁵ to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that ^(J)the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. ⁶ And from those ^(K)who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; ^(L)God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential ^(M)added nothing to me. ⁷ On the contrary, when they saw that I had been ^(N)entrusted with ^(O)the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised ⁸ (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), ⁹ and when James and Cephas and John, ^(P)who seemed to be ^(Q)pillars, perceived the ^(R)grace that was given to me, they ^(S)gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰ Only, they asked us to remember the poor, ^(T)the very thing I was eager to do.

Paul Opposes Peter

¹¹ But ^(U)when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him ^(V)to his face, because he stood condemned. ¹² For before certain men came from James, ^(W)he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing ^(X)the circumcision party.^{[a] 13} And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴ But when I saw that their ^(Y)conduct was not in step with ^(Z)the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas ^(AA)before them all, “If you, though a Jew, ^(AB)live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Justified by Faith

¹⁵ We ourselves are Jews by birth and not ^(AC)Gentile sinners; ¹⁶ yet we know that ^(AD)a person is not justified^[b] by works of the law ^(AE)but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, ^(AF)because by works of the law no one will be justified.

¹⁷ But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found ^(AG)to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸ For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. ¹⁹ For through the law I ^(AH)died to the law, so that I might ^(AI)live to God. ²⁰ I have been ^(AJ)crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives ^(AK)in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, ^(AL)who loved me and ^(AM)gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not nullify the grace of God, for ^(AN)if righteousness^[c] were through the law, ^(AO)then Christ died for no purpose.