Beginning
King Ahaziah dies
1 After King Ahab's death, the country of Moab turned against Israel. 2 At this time, Ahaziah was king of Israel. He lived in the city of Samaria. One day he fell from the window of an upstairs room in his palace. He became very ill. So he sent men to the temple of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron. He told them, ‘Ask their god if I will become well again after my disease.’
3 Then the angel of the Lord spoke to Elijah.[a] He was a prophet who came from Tishbe. The angel said, ‘Go and meet the men that the king of Samaria has sent. Say to them, “Do you think that there is no God in Israel? Is that why you are going to Ekron's god, Baal-Zebub, to ask if the king will be well again?” 4 Because you are doing this, the Lord says to you, Ahaziah, “You will never leave the bed that you are lying on. You will certainly die.” ’
5 Elijah went to tell the men the Lord's message. So the men returned to the king. He asked them, ‘Why have you returned already?’ 6 They replied, ‘A man came to meet us. He told us to go back to the king who had sent us. He says to you, “This is what the Lord says: Why have you sent men to speak to Ekron's god, Baal-Zebub? You seem to think that there is no God in Israel. Because of that, you will not leave the bed that you are lying on. You will certainly die.” ’
7 The king asked them, ‘Describe the man who came to meet you. What did he look like?’ 8 They replied, ‘He was wearing rough clothes. He had tied a leather belt around him.’ Then the king said, ‘That was Elijah, the prophet from Tishbe.’
9 Then the king sent 50 soldiers with their captain to fetch Elijah. Elijah was sitting on the top of a hill. The captain went up and he said to Elijah, ‘Man of God, the king says, “Come down with us.” ’
10 Elijah replied to the captain, ‘If I am really a man of God, fire will come down from the sky. It will destroy you and your 50 soldiers.’ Then fire did come down from the sky. It destroyed the captain and his 50 soldiers.
11 Then the king sent another captain with 50 more soldiers to fetch Elijah. The captain went up and he said to Elijah, ‘Man of God, the king says, “Come down immediately!” ’ 12 Elijah answered, ‘If I am really a man of God, fire will come down from the sky. It will destroy you and your 50 soldiers.’ Then fire from God did come down from the sky. It destroyed the captain and his 50 soldiers.
13 So the king sent a third captain, with 50 more soldiers. This captain went up to Elijah. He bent down on his knees in front of Elijah to ask him to be kind to them. He said, ‘Man of God, we are your servants. Please do not kill me and my 50 soldiers. 14 We know that fire came down from the sky. It destroyed the two captains who came before me and all their soldiers. But now, please be kind and do not kill me.’
15 The angel of the Lord said to Elijah, ‘Go down with him. Do not be afraid of him.’ So Elijah went down with the captain to meet the king. 16 Elijah said to the king, ‘This is what the Lord says: You sent men to speak to Ekron's god, Baal-Zebub, to find out what would happen to you. Did you think that there is no God in Israel? You did not ask him what would happen. Because of that, you will not leave the bed that you are lying on. You will certainly die.’
17 So Ahaziah died. The Lord had told Elijah that this would happen. Ahaziah had no son, so his brother, Joram, became king after him. This happened in the second year that Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoram, ruled Judah as king.
18 The other things that happened while Ahaziah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about the things that King Ahaziah did.[b]
Elijah goes up to heaven
2 The Lord was now ready to take Elijah up to heaven in a storm of wind. At this time, Elijah and Elisha were travelling from Gilgal. 2 Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here, because the Lord has sent me to Bethel.’ But Elisha replied, ‘I will not leave you. I promise that, as surely as the Lord lives and as surely as you also live.’
So they went down to Bethel together. 3 A group of prophets lived in Bethel. They came out to Elisha and they asked him, ‘Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today?’ Elisha replied, ‘Yes, I do know that, but do not talk about it now.’
4 Then Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here, because the Lord has sent me to Jericho.’ But Elisha replied, ‘I will not leave you. I promise that, as surely as the Lord lives and as surely as you live.’
So they went to Jericho together. 5 A group of prophets lived in Jericho. They went out to Elisha and they asked him, ‘Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today?’ Elisha replied, ‘Yes, I do know that, but do not talk about it now.’
6 Then Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here, because the Lord has sent me to the Jordan River.’ But Elisha replied, ‘I will not leave you. I promise that, as surely as the Lord lives and as surely as you live.’
So they continued to travel together. 7 50 men who belonged to the group of prophets went and they stood near the Jordan River. They were standing not far away from Elijah and Elisha. They watched what happened. 8 Elijah took off his coat. He rolled it up and he hit the water with it. The water became separate to the left side and to the right side. Elijah and Elisha went across the river on dry ground.
9 After they had crossed the river, Elijah said to Elisha, ‘The Lord will soon take me away from you. What do you want me to do for you before that happens?’ Elisha replied, ‘Please let me have twice as much of your spirit.’ 10 Elijah said, ‘You have asked a difficult thing. But watch carefully when God takes me from you. If you see it happen, you will receive that spirit. If you do not see me, you will not receive it.’
11 So they walked along and they talked together. Suddenly a chariot that was burning with fire appeared. The horses that pulled it were also burning with fire. The chariot went between Elijah and Elisha. Elijah went up to heaven in a storm of wind. 12 When Elisha saw this, he shouted, ‘My father! My father![c] You are riding in Israel's chariot! Israel's men are riding on the horses!’
After that, Elisha could not see Elijah again. He took hold of his own clothes and he tore them into pieces because he was very upset. 13 He picked up Elijah's coat that had fallen off. He went and he stood on the shore of the Jordan River. 14 He took Elijah's coat and he hit the water with it. He said, ‘Now is the Lord, Elijah's God, with me?’ When he hit the water with Elijah's coat, the water became separate, to the left side and to the right side. Elisha went across the river.
15 The group of prophets from Jericho were standing not far away. They saw what happened. They said, ‘The spirit that gave power to Elijah is now with Elisha.’ They went to meet Elisha. They bent down low to the ground to respect him. 16 They said to him, ‘Please, sir! We are your servants. We have 50 strong men with us. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit[d] of the Lord has carried him away. Maybe it has dropped him somewhere on a mountain or in a valley.’ But Elisha replied, ‘No. Do not send them to look for him.’
17 But the prophets asked him many times to do this. Elisha was too ashamed to refuse. So he said, ‘Send them to look.’ They sent 50 men who looked for Elijah for three days. But they did not find him. 18 When they returned, Elisha was waiting for them in Jericho. He said to them, ‘I told you not to go and look for Elijah.’
Elisha shows that he has God's authority
19 One day, the leaders in Jericho said to Elisha, ‘Please listen to us, sir. You can see that our city is in a good place. But the water here is bad. The land does not give us good crops.’ 20 Elisha said, ‘Bring a new bowl to me with some salt in it.’ So they brought it to him. 21 Then Elisha went out to the city's spring of water. He threw the salt into it. He said, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I have made this water clean again. It will no longer cause people to die. The land will no longer be useless for crops.” ’
22 Since that time, the water has always been pure. This is what Elisha had said would happen.
23 Elisha went from Jericho to Bethel. While he travelled along the road, some boys came out of the town. They laughed at Elisha. They shouted at him, ‘Bald man, move on! Go away, you bald man!’ 24 Elisha turned around and he looked at them. He asked the Lord to punish them. Two bears came out from the forest. They tore 42 of the boys in pieces.
25 Then Elisha travelled to Mount Carmel. From there, he returned to Samaria.
Moab's people fight against Israel
3 Ahab's son Jehoram became the king of Israel in Samaria.[e] This happened when Jehoshaphat had been the king of Judah for 18 years. Jehoram ruled Israel as king for 12 years. 2 He did things that the Lord said were evil. But he was not as bad as his father and his mother had been. Jehoram did throw away the stone pillar where people worshipped Baal. His father Ahab had made that pillar.[f] 3 But Jehoram continued to do the same bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. Jeroboam had caused many people in Israel to do those sins, and Jehoram did not stop doing them himself.
4 Mesha, the king of Moab, was a sheep farmer. Every year he had to pay the king of Israel 100,000 male lambs and the wool from 100,000 male sheep. 5 But after King Ahab died, the king of Moab turned against the king of Israel. 6 So King Jehoram left Samaria to bring all Israel's army together. They were ready to attack Moab. 7 He also sent this message to Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah: ‘The king of Moab has turned against me. Will you go with me to fight against the Moabites?’
Jehoshaphat replied, ‘Yes, I will go with you. We will have one army. My soldiers will join with your soldiers. My horses will be under your authority.’
8 King Jehoram asked, ‘What road should we go on to attack Moab?’ King Jehoshaphat replied, ‘We should travel through the Edom desert.’
9 So the king of Israel, the king of Judah and the king of Edom joined together to attack Moab.[g] They were travelling along the road for seven days. After that time, there was no more water for the army or for their animals. 10 The king of Israel was very upset. He said, ‘What has happened? Perhaps the Lord has brought us three kings here to put us under the power of the king of Moab!’ 11 But King Jehoshaphat asked, ‘There must surely be a prophet of the Lord here somewhere. We could ask him what the Lord wants us to do.’
An officer of the king of Israel answered him, ‘Yes, Shaphat's son Elisha is here. He was Elijah's servant.’ 12 Jehoshaphat said, ‘He will tell us what the Lord is saying.’ So the king of Israel, King Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went to meet Elisha.
13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, ‘We have nothing to say to each other! Instead, go to the prophets that your father and your mother liked to listen to.’ The king of Israel replied, ‘No! The Lord told us three kings to come here together. Now he is putting us under Moab's power.’ 14 Elisha said to him, ‘I serve the Lord Almighty. I promise you, as surely as the Lord lives, I would never even look at you! But I do respect Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, who is with you. So I will help you. 15 But now, bring someone to play music on a harp for me.’
While the man was making music, the Lord's power came to Elisha. 16 Elisha said, ‘This is what the Lord says: Dig many holes in this dry valley, 17 because the Lord says this: You will not see any wind or any rain. But this valley will become full of water! You, your cows and your other animals will have water to drink. 18 This is an easy thing for the Lord to do. He will also put the Moabites under your power. 19 You will destroy all their strong cities and all their important towns. You will cut down every good tree. You will stop their springs giving any water. You will cover their fields with stones so that nothing grows there.’
20 The next morning, at the time when they offered the morning sacrifice, the water appeared! It came from the direction of Edom so that the land was full of water!
21 All the people in Moab had heard that the kings had come to attack them. So the leaders of Moab brought together every man who was old enough to fight. They put these men on Moab's border. 22 When the Moabites woke up early the next morning, the sun was shining on the water. When they looked at the water from where they were, it looked like blood! 23 They said to each other, ‘That is blood! The armies of those kings have fought against each other. Now they are all dead! We must go and take all their valuable things!’
24 So the Moabites arrived at the camp of the Israelite army. Then Israel's soldiers attacked the Moabites. The Moabites ran away back to their own land. The Israelites chased them and they completely destroyed them. 25 They destroyed the Moabites' towns. Each Israelite soldier threw a stone onto all the good fields, until they covered them with stones. They filled the springs so that they gave no water. They cut down all the good trees.
Only the city of Kir-Hareseth was still there with its stone walls.[h] But the Israelite soldiers stood all around the city. They attacked it with stones from their slings. 26 The king of Moab realized that he was not winning the battle. So he took 700 of his soldiers who had swords. They tried to attack their enemies and reach the king of Edom. But they failed to do that. 27 So the king of Moab took his oldest son who would have become king after him. He killed him on the wall of the city as a burnt offering to their god.[i] This made the Israelite soldiers become very upset. So they went away from the city and they returned to their own land.
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.