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2 Kings 2
New English Translation

Elijah Makes a Swift Departure

2 Just before[a] the Lord took Elijah up to heaven in a windstorm, Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal. 2 Elijah told Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As certainly as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. 3 Some members of the prophetic guild[b] in Bethel came out to Elisha and said, “Do you know that today the Lord is going to take your master from you?”[c] He answered, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”

4 Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But he replied, “As certainly as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho. 5 Some members of the prophetic guild in Jericho approached Elisha and said, “Do you know that today the Lord is going to take your master from you?” He answered, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”

6 Elijah said to him, “Stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he replied, “As certainly as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they traveled on together. 7 The fifty members of the prophetic guild went and stood opposite them at a distance, while Elijah and Elisha[d] stood by the Jordan. 8 Elijah took his cloak, folded it up, and hit the water with it. The water divided, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

9 When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “What can I do for you,[e] before I am taken away from you?” Elisha answered, “May I receive a double portion of the prophetic spirit that energizes you?”[f] 10 Elijah[g] replied, “That’s a difficult request![h] If you see me taken from you, may it be so, but if you don’t, it will not happen.”

11 As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a fiery chariot[i] pulled by fiery horses appeared.[j] They went between Elijah and Elisha,[k] and Elijah went up to heaven in a windstorm. 12 While Elisha was watching, he was crying out, “My father, my father! The chariot and horsemen of Israel!”[l] Then he could no longer see him. He grabbed his clothes and tore them in two. 13 He picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen off him, and went back and stood on the shore of the Jordan. 14 He took the cloak that had fallen off Elijah,[m] hit the water with it, and said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” When he hit the water, it divided and Elisha crossed over.

15 When the members of the prophetic guild in Jericho, who were standing at a distance,[n] saw him do this, they said, “The spirit that energized Elijah[o] rests upon Elisha.” They went to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him. 16 They said to him, “Look, there are fifty capable men with your servants. Let them go and look for your master, for the wind sent from the Lord[p] may have carried him away and dropped him on one of the hills or in one of the valleys.” But Elisha[q] replied, “Don’t send them out.” 17 But they were so insistent that he became embarrassed. So he said, “Send them out.” They sent the fifty men out, and they looked for three days, but could not find Elijah.[r] 18 When they came back, Elisha[s] was staying in Jericho. He said to them, “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t go’?”

Elisha Demonstrates His Authority

19 The men of the city said to Elisha, “Look, the city has a good location, as our[t] master can see. But the water is bad and the land doesn’t produce crops.”[u] 20 Elisha[v] said, “Get me a new jar and put some salt in it.” So they got it. 21 He went out to the spring and threw the salt in. Then he said, “This is what the Lord has said, ‘I have purified[w] this water. It will no longer cause death or fail to produce crops.’”[x] 22 The water has been pure to this very day, just as Elisha prophesied.[y]

23 He went up from there to Bethel. As he was traveling up the road, some young boys[z] came out of the city and made fun of him, saying, “Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!” 24 When he turned around and saw them, he called God’s judgment down on them.[aa] Two female bears came out of the woods and ripped forty-two of the boys to pieces. 25 From there he traveled to Mount Carmel and then back to Samaria.[ab]

Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 2:1 tn Or “when.”
  2. 2 Kings 2:3 tn Heb “the sons of the prophets.”
  3. 2 Kings 2:3 tn Heb “from your head.” The same expression occurs in v. 5.
  4. 2 Kings 2:7 tn Heb “the two of them.” The referents (Elijah and Elisha) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
  5. 2 Kings 2:9 tn Heb “Ask! What can I do for you….?”
  6. 2 Kings 2:9 tn Heb “May a double portion of your spirit come to me.”
  7. 2 Kings 2:10 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  8. 2 Kings 2:10 tn Heb “You have made difficult [your] request.”
  9. 2 Kings 2:11 tn Though the noun is singular here, it may be collective, in which case it could be translated “chariots.”
  10. 2 Kings 2:11 tn Heb “look, a chariot of fire and horses of fire.”
  11. 2 Kings 2:11 tn Heb “and they made a division between the two of them.”
  12. 2 Kings 2:12 sn Elisha may be referring to the fiery chariot(s) and horses as the Lord’s spiritual army that fights on behalf of Israel (see 2 Kgs 6:15-17; 7:6). However, the juxtaposition with “my father” (clearly a reference to Elijah as Elisha’s mentor), and the parallel in 2 Kgs 13:14 (where the king addresses Elisha with these words), suggest that Elisha is referring to Elijah. In this case Elijah is viewed as a one man army, as it were. When the Lord spoke through him, his prophetic word was as powerful as an army of chariots and horses. See M. A. Beek, “The Meaning of the Expression ‘The Chariots and Horsemen of Israel’ (II Kings ii 12),” The Witness of Tradition (OTS 17), 1-10.
  13. 2 Kings 2:14 tn Heb “Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen off him.” The wording is changed slightly in the translation for the sake of variety of expression (see v. 13).
  14. 2 Kings 2:15 tn Heb “and the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho, [who were standing] opposite, saw him and said.”
  15. 2 Kings 2:15 tn Heb “the spirit of Elijah.”
  16. 2 Kings 2:16 tn Or “the spirit of the Lord.”
  17. 2 Kings 2:16 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  18. 2 Kings 2:17 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  19. 2 Kings 2:18 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  20. 2 Kings 2:19 tn Heb “my.”
  21. 2 Kings 2:19 tn Heb “miscarries” or “is barren.”
  22. 2 Kings 2:20 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  23. 2 Kings 2:21 tn Or “healed.”
  24. 2 Kings 2:21 tn Heb “there will no longer be from there death and miscarriage [or, ‘barrenness’].”
  25. 2 Kings 2:22 tn Heb “according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.”
  26. 2 Kings 2:23 tn The word נַעַר (naʿar), here translated “boy,” can refer to a broad age range, including infants as well as young men. But the qualifying term “young” (or “small”) suggests these youths were relatively young. The phrase in question (“young boy”) occurs elsewhere in 1 Sam 20:35; 1 Kgs 3:7 (used by Solomon in an hyperbolic manner); 11:17; 2 Kgs 5:14; and Isa 11:6.
  27. 2 Kings 2:24 tn Heb “he cursed them in the name of the Lord.” A curse was a formal appeal to a higher authority (here the Lord) to vindicate one’s cause through judgment. As in chapter one, this account makes it clear that disrespect for the Lord’s designated spokesmen can be deadly, for it is ultimately rejection of the Lord’s authority.
  28. 2 Kings 2:25 sn The two brief episodes recorded in vv. 19-25 demonstrate Elisha’s authority and prove that he is the legitimate prophetic heir of Elijah. He has the capacity to bring life and blessing to those who recognize his authority, or death and judgment to those who reject him.
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2 Kings 2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Elijah Ascends to Heaven

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

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

6 Then Elijah said to him, “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.(F) 7 Fifty men of the company of prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan.(G) 8 Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and the two of them crossed on dry ground.(H)

9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” 10 He responded, “You have asked a hard thing, yet if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.” 11 As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven.(I) 12 Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.(J)

Elisha Succeeds Elijah

13 He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water. He said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? Where is he?” He struck the water again, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha crossed over.(K)

15 When the company of prophets who were at Jericho saw him at a distance, they declared, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.(L) 16 They said to him, “See now, we have fifty strong men among your servants; please let them go and seek your master; it may be that the spirit of the Lord has caught him up and thrown him down on some mountain or into some valley.” He responded, “No, do not send them.”(M) 17 But when they urged him to the point of embarrassment, he said, “Send them.” So they sent fifty men who searched for three days but did not find him.(N) 18 When they came back to him (he had remained at Jericho), he said to them, “Did I not say to you, ‘Do not go’?”

Elisha Performs Miracles

19 Now the people of the city said to Elisha, “The location of this city is good, 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 threw the salt into it and said, “Thus says the Lord: I have made this water wholesome; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.”(O) 22 So the water has been wholesome 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 away, baldhead! Go away, baldhead!” 24 When he turned around and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.(P) 25 From there he went on to Mount Carmel and then returned to Samaria.(Q)

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New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)

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