Elisha’s last days

¹⁴ Now Elisha became sick with the illness that would kill him. So Israel’s King Joash went down to see him. Joash cried over Elisha, saying, “Oh, my father, my father! Israel’s chariots and its riders!”

¹⁵ Elisha told Joash, “Get a bow and some arrows.” So he brought Elisha a bow and some arrows. ¹⁶ Elisha then said to Israel’s king, “Put your hand on the bow.” So Joash put his hand on the bow. Elisha then put his hands over the king’s hands ¹⁷ and said, “Open the window to the east.” The king did so. “Now shoot!” Elisha told him. Joash shot, then Elisha announced, “That’s the Lord’s rescue arrow! The rescue arrow against the Arameans! You will finish the Arameans off at Aphek.” ¹⁸ Then Elisha said, “Take the arrows!” so Joash took them. Elisha then said to Israel’s king, “Hit the ground with them!” Joash hit the ground three times and stopped. ¹⁹ The man of God became angry with him. He said, “If only you had struck five or six times, you would have finished the Arameans off. As it is, you will defeat them only three times.”

²⁰ So Elisha died, and he was buried.

Sometimes Moabite raiding parties used to come into the land each spring. ²¹ Now it happened once that while a man was being buried, the people at the funeral suddenly saw a raiding party. They threw the body into Elisha’s tomb and ran off. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet!