Beginning

1 After Ach’av’s death Mo’av rebelled against Isra’el.

² When Achazyah fell through a latticed window of his upper room in Shomron and lay injured, he sent messengers and said to them, “Go, consult Ba‘al-Z’vuv the god of ‘Ekron, and ask whether I will recover from this injury.” ³ But an angel of Adonai said to Eliyahu from Tishbe, “Get up, and intercept the messengers of the king of Shomron, and ask them, ‘Is it because there’s no God in Isra’el that you’re on your way to consult Ba‘al-Z’vuv the god of ‘Ekron? ⁴ Therefore Adonai says, “You will never leave the bed you are lying on; you will certainly die.”’” Then Eliyahu left. ⁵ The messengers returned to Achazyah, and he asked them, “Why have you come back?” ⁶ They answered him, “A man came to meet us. He told us to go and return to the king who sent us, and tell him, ‘Here is what Adonai says: “Is it because there’s no God in Isra’el that you’re sending to consult Ba‘al-Z’vuv the god of ‘Ekron? Therefore you will never leave the bed you are lying on; you will certainly die.”’” ⁷ He asked them, “The man who came to meet you and told you these things, what kind of a man was he?” ⁸ “He was a hairy man,” they answered him, “with a leather belt around his waist.” He said, “It was Eliyahu from Tishbe.”

⁹ Then the king sent a commander of fifty to Eliyahu, together with his fifty men. Eliyahu was sitting at the top of a hill. The commander climbed up to him and said, “Man of God, the king says to come down.” ¹⁰ Eliyahu answered the commander of fifty, “If I am in fact a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and burn you up, along with your fifty men.” Fire came down from heaven, and it burned up him and his fifty men. ¹¹ The king sent him another commander of fifty, together with his fifty men. He said to him, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down immediately!’” ¹² Eliyahu answered them, “If I am in fact a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and burn you up, along with your fifty men.” Fire came down from heaven, and it burned up him and his fifty men. ¹³ The king sent a third commander of fifty, with his fifty men. The third commander of fifty climbed up, approached Eliyahu and fell on his knees before him. He pleaded with him: “Man of God, please! Have some regard for my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours! ¹⁴ I know that fire came down from heaven and burned up the two other commanders with their fifty men; but now, have some regard for my life.” ¹⁵ The angel of Adonai said to Eliyahu, “Go down with him; don’t be afraid of him.” So he got up and went down with him to the king.

¹⁶ Eliyahu said to the king, “Here is what Adonai says: ‘You sent messengers to consult Ba‘al-Z’vuv the god of ‘Ekron. Is it because there’s no God in Isra’el you can consult? Therefore, you will never leave the bed you are lying on; you will certainly die.’” ¹⁷ So he died, in keeping with the word of Adonai spoken through Eliyahu.

Y’horam began to rule in place of him during the second year of Y’horam the son of Y’hoshafat king of Y’hudah, because he had no son. ¹⁸ Other activities of Achazyah are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra’el.

2 The time came for Adonai to take Eliyahu up into heaven in a whirlwind. Eliyahu and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal, ² when Eliyahu said to Elisha, “Please wait here, because Adonai has sent me all the way to Beit-El.” But Elisha said, “As Adonai lives, and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Beit-El. ³ The guild prophets of Beit-El came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that Adonai is taking your master away from you today?” “Yes, I know,” he answered; “say no more.”

⁴ Eliyahu said to him, “Elisha, please wait here, because Adonai has sent me to Yericho.” He replied, “As Adonai lives, and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Yericho. ⁵ The guild prophets of Yericho approached Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that Adonai is taking your master away from you today?” “Yes, I know,” he answered; “say no more.”

⁶ Eliyahu said to him, “Please wait here, because Adonai has sent me to the Yarden.” He replied, “As Adonai lives, and as you live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. ⁷ Fifty of the guild prophets went and stood watching them from a distance, while they stood by the Yarden. ⁸ Then Eliyahu took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it; and the water divided itself to the left and to the right; so that they crossed on dry ground. ⁹ After they had crossed, Eliyahu said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away from you.” Elisha said, “Please! Let a double share of your spirit be on me!” ¹⁰ He replied, “You have requested a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, you will get what you asked for; but if not, you won’t.”

¹¹ Suddenly, as they were walking on and talking, there appeared a fiery chariot with horses of fire; and as it separated the two of them from each other, Eliyahu went up into heaven in a whirlwind. ¹² Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Isra’el!” Then he lost sight of him. Seizing his clothes, he tore them in half. ¹³ Then he picked up Eliyahu’s cloak, which had fallen off him. Standing on the bank of the Yarden, ¹⁴ he took the cloak that had fallen off Eliyahu, struck the water and said, “Where is Adonai, the God of Eliyahu?” But when he actually did strike the water, it divided itself to the left and to the right; then Elisha crossed over.

¹⁵ When the guild prophets of Yericho saw him in the distance, they said, “The spirit of Eliyahu does rest on Elisha.” Advancing to meet him, they prostrated themselves on the ground before him ¹⁶ and said to him, “Here now, your servants include fifty strong men. Please let them go and look for your master, in the event that the Spirit of Adonai has taken him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley.” He answered, “Don’t send them.” ¹⁷ But they kept pressing him until finally, embarrassed, he said to send them. So they sent fifty men. For three days they searched, but they didn’t find him. ¹⁸ On returning to him where he was waiting in Yericho, he said to them, “I told you not to go, didn’t I?”

¹⁹ The men of the city said to Elisha, “My lord can see that this is a pleasant city to live in; but the water is bad, so that the ground is causing miscarriages.” ²⁰ “Bring me a new jug,” he said, “and put salt in it.” They brought it to him. ²¹ He went out to the source of the water, threw salt into it and said, “This is what Adonai says: ‘I have healed this water; it will no longer cause death or miscarrying.’” ²² The water was healed and has remained healed to this day, in keeping with Elisha’s spoken word.

²³ Elisha left to go up to Beit-El. As he was on his way up the road, some boys came out of the town and began making fun of him. “Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!” ²⁴ He looked behind him, saw them and put a curse on them in the name of Adonai; whereupon two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.

²⁵ He went on from there to Mount Karmel and then returned to Shomron.

3 Y’horam the son of Ach’av began his reign over Isra’el in Shomron during the eighteenth year of Y’hoshafat king of Y’hudah, and he ruled for twelve years. ² He did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective; but he was not as bad as his father and mother, because he got rid of Ba‘al’s standing-stone which his father had made. ³ Nevertheless, he clung to the sins of Yarov‘am the son of N’vat, with which he had led Isra’el into sin; he never turned away from them.

⁴ Mesha king of Mo’av was a sheep-breeder, and he used to send the king of Isra’el the wool of 100,000 lambs and of 100,000 rams as tribute. ⁵ But after Ach’av died, the king of Mo’av rebelled against the king of Isra’el. ⁶ Y’horam left Shomron and mustered all Isra’el. ⁷ He also went and sent this word to Y’hoshafat king of Y’hudah: “The king of Mo’av has rebelled against me. Will you join me in attacking Mo’av?” He answered, “I will join in the attack — I’m with you all the way; think of my people and horses as yours. ⁸ Which route should we take?” he added. “The road through the desert of Edom,” answered Y’horam.

⁹ So the king of Isra’el set out, along with the king of Y’hudah and the king of Edom. After a roundabout journey of seven days, there was no water for either the army or the animals following them. ¹⁰ “This is terrible!” exclaimed the king of Isra’el. “Has Adonai called these three kings together only to hand them over to Mo’av?” ¹¹ But Y’hoshafat said, “Isn’t there a prophet of Adonai here through whom we can consult Adonai?” One of the servants of the king of Isra’el answered, “Elisha the son of Shafat is here, the one who used to pour water on Eliyahu’s hands.” ¹² Y’hoshafat said, “The word of Adonai is with him.” So the king of Isra’el, Y’hoshafat and the king of Edom went down to consult him.

¹³ Elisha said to the king of Isra’el, “What do you and I have in common? Go, consult your father’s prophets and your mother’s prophets!” But the king of Isra’el answered him, “No, because Adonai has called these three kings together to hand them over to Mo’av.” ¹⁴ Elisha said, “As Adonai-Tzva’ot lives, before whom I stand, if I didn’t respect the fact that Y’hoshafat the king of Y’hudah is here, I wouldn’t even look in your direction or take notice of you. ¹⁵ But now, bring me a musician.” As the musician played, the hand of Adonai fell on Elisha; ¹⁶ and he said, “Adonai says to dig until this valley is full of trenches. ¹⁷ For here is what Adonai says: ‘You won’t see wind, and you won’t see rain. Nevertheless the valley will be filled with water; and you will drink — you, your cattle and your other animals. ¹⁸ That’s an easy thing to do, from Adonai’s perspective. He will also hand Mo’av over to you. ¹⁹ You will conquer every fortified city and every choice town, you will chop down every good tree, stop up every well and ruin every good field with stones.” ²⁰ The next morning, around the time for making the offering, water came from the direction of Edom, and the countryside was filled with water.

²¹ When all Mo’av heard that the kings had come up to attack them, every man was summoned, from the youngest capable of bearing arms to older ones, and stationed on the border. ²² They rose early in the morning, when the sun was shining on the water. Mo’av, when they saw the water in the distance looking as red as blood, ²³ said, “That’s blood! The kings must have quarreled, and their soldiers killed each other. Mo’av! To the plunder!”

²⁴ When they arrived at the camp of Isra’el, Isra’el launched an attack, so that Mo’av fled before them. But they advanced on Mo’av and struck it. ²⁵ They made ruins of the cities. Each man threw his stone on every good field, covering it. They stopped up all the wells. They chopped down all the good trees. Finally, all that remained was Kir-Hareset behind its stone wall, with the slingers surrounding and attacking it. ²⁶ When the king of Mo’av saw that the fighting was too much for him, he took with him 700 men armed with swords and tried to break through to the king of Edom; but they couldn’t do it. ²⁷ Then he took his firstborn son, who was to have succeeded him as king, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. Following this, such great anger came upon Isra’el that they left him and went back to their own land.