Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content
Previous Next
Add parallel Print Page Options
Close NET

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.
Close YLT

2 Kings 2
Young's Literal Translation

2 And it cometh to pass, at Jehovah's taking up Elijah in a whirlwind to the heavens, that Elijah goeth, and Elisha, from Gilgal,

2 and Elijah saith unto Elisha, `Abide, I pray thee, here, for Jehovah hath sent me unto Beth-El;' and Elisha saith, `Jehovah liveth, and thy soul liveth, if I leave thee;' and they go down to Beth-El.

3 And sons of the prophets who [are] in Beth-El come out unto Elisha, and say unto him, `Hast thou known that to-day Jehovah is taking thy lord from thy head?' and he saith, `I also have known -- keep silent.'

4 And Elijah saith to him, `Elisha, abide, I pray thee, here, for Jehovah hath sent me to Jericho;' and he saith, `Jehovah liveth, and thy soul liveth, if I leave thee;' and they come in to Jericho.

5 And sons of the prophets who [are] in Jericho come nigh unto Elisha, and say unto him, `Hast thou known that to-day Jehovah is taking thy lord from thy head?' and he saith, `I also have known -- keep silent.'

6 And Elijah saith to him, `Abide, I pray thee, here, for Jehovah hath sent me to the Jordan;' and he saith, `Jehovah liveth, and thy soul liveth, if I leave thee;' and they go on both of them,

7 -- and fifty men of the sons of the prophets have gone on, and stand over-against afar off -- and both of them have stood by the Jordan.

8 And Elijah taketh his robe, and wrappeth [it] together, and smiteth the waters, and they are halved, hither and thither, and they pass over both of them on dry land.

9 And it cometh to pass, at their passing over, that Elijah hath said unto Elisha, `Ask, what do I do for thee before I am taken from thee?' and Elisha saith, `Then let there be, I pray thee, a double portion of thy spirit unto me;'

10 and he saith, `Thou hast asked a hard thing; if thou dost see me taken from thee, it is to thee so; and if not, it is not.'

11 And it cometh to pass, they are going, going on and speaking, and lo, a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and they separate between them both, and Elijah goeth up in a whirlwind, to the heavens.

12 And Elisha is seeing, and he is crying, `My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and its horsemen;' and he hath not seen him again; and he taketh hold on his garments, and rendeth them into two pieces.

13 And he taketh up the robe of Elijah, that fell from off him, and turneth back and standeth on the edge of the Jordan,

14 and he taketh the robe of Elijah that fell from off him, and smiteth the waters, and saith, `Where [is] Jehovah, God of Elijah -- even He?' and he smiteth the waters, and they are halved, hither and thither, and Elisha passeth over.

15 And they see him -- the sons of the prophets who [are] in Jericho -- over-against, and they say, `Rested hath the spirit of Elijah on Elisha;' and they come to meet him, and bow themselves to him to the earth,

16 and say unto him, `Lo, we pray thee, there are with thy servants fifty men, sons of valour: let them go, we pray thee, and they seek thy lord, lest the Spirit of Jehovah hath taken him up, and doth cast him on one of the hills, or into one of the valleys;' and he saith, `Ye do not send.'

17 And they press upon him, till he is ashamed, and he saith, `Send ye;' and they send fifty men, and they seek three days, and have not found him;

18 and they turn back unto him -- and he is abiding in Jericho -- and he saith unto them, `Did I not say unto you, Do not go?'

19 And the men of the city say unto Elisha, `Lo, we pray thee, the site of the city [is] good, as my lord seeth, and the waters [are] bad, and the earth sterile.'

20 And he saith, `Bring to me a new dish, and place there salt;' and they bring [it] unto him,

21 and he goeth out unto the source of the waters, and casteth there salt, and saith, `Thus said Jehovah, I have given healing to these waters; there is not thence any more death and sterility.'

22 And the waters are healed unto this day, according to the word of Elisha, that he spake.

23 And he goeth up thence 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 looketh behind him, and seeth them, and declareth them vile in the name of Jehovah, and two bears come out of the forest, and rend of them forty and two lads.

25 And he goeth thence unto the hill of Carmel, and thence he hath turned back to Samaria.

Next
2 Kings 1
2 Kings 3
Next
dropdown
New English Translation (NET)

NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

by Public Domain