Beginning

Chapter 1

Ahaziah Consults Baal-zebub. ¹ After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel.

² Now Ahaziah had fallen down through the lattice of his upper chamber in Samaria and he was injured, so he sent messengers, saying, “Go to Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, to inquire as to whether I will recover from this illness or not.”^[a]

³ But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the king of Samaria’s messengers and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no god in Israel that you are going to make inquiry of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’ ⁴ Therefore, thus says the Lord: You shall not rise from the bed on which you lie; you will surely die.” Then Elijah departed.

⁵ The messengers then returned to him. He said to them, “Why have you come back?” ⁶ They answered him, “A man came up to meet us and he said, ‘Return to the king who sent you and say: Thus says the Lord: Is it because there is no god in Israel that you have sent to make inquiry of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? You shall not rise from the bed on which you lie; you will surely die.’ ”

⁷ The king asked them, “What sort of man was this who came up to meet you and who said these words to you?” ⁸ They replied, “He was wearing a garment made from hair^[b] and a leather belt around his waist.” He said, “It was Elijah the Tishbite!”

⁹ The king then sent a captain of fifty along with his fifty men. He went up to him, and he found him sitting on a hilltop. He said to him, “O man of God, the king orders you, ‘Come down!’ ” ¹⁰ Elijah answered the captain of the fifty men, saying, “If I am truly a man of God, then let fire come down from the heavens and consume you and your fifty men.” Fire then came down from the heavens and it consumed him and his fifty men.

¹¹ He sent another captain of fifty along with his fifty men. He said to him, “O man of God, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!’ ” ¹² Elijah answered them, “If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from the heavens and consume you and your fifty men.” Then God’s fire came down from the heavens and consumed him and his fifty men.

¹³ And so a third time he sent a captain of fifty along with his fifty men. The third captain of the fifty came and fell on his knees before Elijah and pleaded with him saying, “O man of God, please let my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants, be considered to be precious in your sight. ¹⁴ Behold, fire has come down from the heavens, and it has consumed the previous two captains of the fifty along with their fifty men. Let my life be precious in your sight.”

¹⁵ The angel of the Lord said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Do not be afraid of him.” So he went down with him to the king. ¹⁶ He said to the king, “Thus says the Lord: Is it because there is no God in Israel of whom you can inquire that you have sent messengers to make inquiry of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Because of this, you shall not rise from the bed on which you lie. You will surely die!”

¹⁷ He died, fulfilling the word of the Lord that Elijah had proclaimed. Because he had no son, Joram reigned in his stead during the second year of the reign of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah. ¹⁸ As for the rest of the deeds of Ahaziah, what he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

Stories of Elisha and Joram

Chapter 2

Elijah Is Taken to Heaven.^{[c] 1} Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal when the Lord was about to take Elijah into heaven in a whirlwind. ² Elijah said to Elisha, “Wait here, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel.” But Elisha answered, “As the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.

³ The sons of the prophets came forth from Bethel to Elisha and they said to him, “Do you know that today is the day that the Lord is going to take away your master who is over you?” Elisha answered, “Yes, I know it. Be quiet!”

⁴ Elijah then said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But he answered, “As the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho.

⁵ The sons of the prophets in Jericho came to Elisha and said, “Do you know that today is the day that the Lord is going to take away your master who is over you?” He answered, “Yes, I know. Be quiet!”

⁶ Elijah said to him, “Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” He answered, “As the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on.

⁷ Now fifty of the sons of the prophets went out and watched from a distance as the two of them stood at the Jordan. ⁸ Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up. He struck the waters with it, and they split apart, so the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

Elisha Succeeds Elijah. ⁹ After they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask me for whatever you want before I am taken away.” Elisha said, “Let me please have a double portion^[d] of your spirit.” ¹⁰ He answered, “You have asked for something that is difficult. If you see me taken away from you, then it will be yours. If not, then it will not be so.”

¹¹ As they were walking along talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them, and Elijah went up into the heavens in a whirlwind. ¹² Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariot and horsemen of Israel!” And then he could not see him anymore. He took hold of his clothes and tore them apart.^[e]

¹³ He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen off of him, and he went back and stood by the banks of the Jordan. ¹⁴ He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen off of him, and he struck the waters and said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” When Elisha struck the waters, they split apart and he crossed over.

¹⁵ The sons of the prophets from Jericho who had been watching said, “The spirit of Elijah has come to rest upon Elisha.” They came out to meet him, and they bowed down to the ground before him. ¹⁶ They said to him, “Behold, there are fifty strong men with your servants. Let them go out and search for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has picked him up and set him down on a mountain or in some valley.” But he answered, “Do not send them.”

¹⁷ They continued to insist until he became embarrassed and he said, “Send them.” The fifty men searched for three days, but they did not find him. ¹⁸ When they came back to him in Jericho where he was staying, he said to them, “Did I not tell you that you should not go?”

¹⁹ Healing the Water. The men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, this city is in a pleasant location, as my lord sees, but the water is bad and the ground is barren.” ²⁰ He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put some salt in it.” So they brought it to him. ²¹ He went out to the spring of water, and he threw the salt into it, saying, “Thus says the Lord: I have healed these waters. They shall never again produce death or make the land barren.” ²² The waters have remained healed up to the present day, just as Elisha had declared.

^23 [f]From there he traveled to Bethel. As he was on his way, some little children came out of the city and they mocked him crying out, “Go away, baldy! Go away, baldy!” ²⁴ He turned around and stared at them. He cursed them in the name of the Lord. Two female bears came out from the woods and mauled the children, forty-two of them.

²⁵ From there he went to Mount Carmel, and then he returned to Samaria.

Chapter 3

Joram’s Campaign against Moab. ¹ Joram, the son of Ahab, began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of the reign of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, and he reigned for twelve years. ² He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as bad as his father and his mother. He removed the idol of Baal that his father had made. ³ Still, he clung to the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, causing Israel to sin. He did not turn away from them.

⁴ Mesha, the king of Moab, tended sheep. He had to give the king of Israel one hundred thousand lambs and the wool from one hundred thousand sheep. ⁵ When Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

⁶ King Joram went out from Samaria and he gathered together all of Israel. ⁷ He sent this message to Jehoshaphat, the king of Israel: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you not go out with me to fight against Moab?” He answered, “I will go. My people are your people, and my horses are your horses.” ⁸ He said, “By which way should we go up?” He answered, “By way of the Desert of Edom.”

⁹ The king of Israel went out with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. They wandered around for seven days, but there was no water for the army or the animals that followed them. ¹⁰ The king of Israel said, “What? Has the Lord called three kings together only to hand them over into the hands of Moab?” ¹¹ Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not a prophet of the Lord so that we can inquire of the Lord through him?” A servant of the king of Israel answered, “There is Elisha, the son of Shaphat. He used to pour water onto the hands of Elijah.”^{[g] 12} Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.”

So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. ¹³ But Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What do you and I have to do with each other? Go to the prophets of your father and your mother.” The king of Israel said, “No, the Lord called together these three kings to deliver them into the hands of Moab.” ¹⁴ Elisha said, “As the Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand, if it were not for the presence of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would not even look at you or take notice of you. ¹⁵ Now, bring a harpist to me.” While the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came upon him. ¹⁶ He said, “Thus says the Lord: Fill this valley with ditches. ¹⁷ For thus says the Lord: You will see neither wind nor rain, but this valley will fill up with water for you and your animals to drink. ¹⁸ This will be easy for the Lord, and he will also hand over the Moabites into your hands. ¹⁹ You will overthrow every fortified city and every larger city. You will cut down every good tree, stop up every well, and scatter stones in every good field.”

²⁰ In the morning while they were offering a sacrifice, water came flowing from Edom. The land was filled with water. ²¹ The Moabites heard that the kings were coming to fight against them, and they gathered together everyone who was old enough to put on armor and older and they stationed them on the border.

²² When they got up in the morning, the sun was shining on the water, and the Moabites saw that the water on the other side was as red as blood.^{[h] 23} They said, “This is blood. Surely the kings have attacked and killed one another. To the spoil, Moab!”

²⁴ When they arrived at the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and defeated the Moabites who fled before them. They pushed forward, cutting down the Moabites. ²⁵ They then destroyed the cities, and each cast his stone onto a good piece of land, filling it in. They stopped up all of the wells, and they cut down all of the good trees. But they left the stones of Kir-hareseth, although the slingers surrounded and attacked it.

²⁶ When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took seven hundred swordsmen with him to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not. ²⁷ They took his oldest son who would have reigned in his stead, and they offered him up as a burnt offering upon the wall. They were furious at Israel. They departed and returned to their own land.