Elijah Taken Up to Heaven 1 UST When Yahweh was about to take the prophet Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and his fellow prophet Elisha left the city of Gilgal{ in the territory of Ephraim, where Elijah had been staying with a community of prophets}. BSB BSB: Shortly before the LORD took Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal,
2 UST Elijah told Elisha,“Yahweh has told me to go to the city of Bethel, but I would like you to stay here.” But Elisha replied,“I am not going to separate from you. I swear by Yahweh and by your own life that I will not do that!” So they went to Bethel together. BSB BSB: and Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me on to Bethel.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.
3 UST A group of prophets lived in the city of Bethel. Some of them came out and asked Elisha,“Do you know that Yahweh is going to take your master Elijah away from you today?” Elisha told them,“Yes, I know that. Please do not say anything further about it.” BSB BSB: Then the sons of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the LORD will take your master away from you today?” “Yes, I know,” he replied. “Do not speak of it.”
4 UST Then Elijah told Elisha,“Yahweh has told me to go to the city of Jericho, but I would like you to stay here.” But Elisha replied again,“I am not going to separate from you. I swear by Yahweh and by your own life that I will not do that!” So they went to Jericho together. BSB BSB: And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me on to Jericho.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho.
5 UST A group of prophets lived in the city of Jericho. Some of them came up to Elisha and asked him,“Do you know that Yahweh is going to take your master Elijah away from you today?” Elisha told them,“Yes, I know that. Please do not say anything further about it.” BSB BSB: Then the sons of the prophets at Jericho came up to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the LORD will take your master away from you today?” “Yes, I know,” he replied. “Do not speak of it.”
6 UST Then Elijah told Elisha,“Yahweh has told me to go to the Jordan River, but I would like you to stay here.” But again Elisha replied,“I am not going to separate from you. I swear by Yahweh and by your own life that I will not do that!” So they continued walking together. BSB BSB: And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me on to the Jordan.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on.
7 UST Fifty men from the group of prophets who lived in Jericho followed them. They stood where they could watch Elijah and Elisha from a distance as the two of them stopped at the bank of the Jordan River. BSB BSB: Then a company of fifty of the sons of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing Elijah and Elisha as the two of them stood by the Jordan.
8 UST Then Elijah took off his cloak and rolled it up. He hit the water with it, and path opened up for them through the Jordan River. The ground on this pathway became dry, and that allowed them to walk across to the other side. BSB BSB: And Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, and struck the waters, which parted to the right and to the left, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
9 UST When they got to the other side, Elijah told Elisha,“Tell me what you would like me to do for you before Yahweh takes me away.” Elisha replied,“{ Since I am going to be your successor,} I want you to leave me twice as much of your spirit as you leave to any other prophet{, as if I were your firstborn son}.” BSB BSB: After they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken away from you?” “Please, let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.
10 UST Elijah replied,“You have asked for something that would be difficult for me to make happen. But if you see me when Yahweh takes me from you, then you will get what you have requested. If you do not see me, then you will not get it.” BSB BSB: “You have requested a difficult thing,” said Elijah. “Nevertheless, if you see me as I am taken from you, it will be yours. But if not, then it will not be so.”
12 UST When Elisha saw this, he cried out,“Oh, my master! You protected Israel so well{, but now you are gone}!” Elijah disappeared into the sky, and Elisha never saw him again. Then Elisha tore his robe into two pieces{ to show that he was very sad}. BSB BSB: As Elisha watched, he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And he saw Elijah no more. So taking hold of his own clothes, he tore them in two.
13 UST Elijah’ s cloak had fallen off when the whirlwind lifted him up. Elisha picked up the cloak and walked back to the Jordan River and stood at the water’ s edge. BSB BSB: Elisha also picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah, and he went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.
14 UST He rolled up the cloak and struck the water with it. As he did that, he cried out,“If Yahweh, the God of Elijah, is present, may he do for me what he did for Elijah!” A path opened up for him through the water, and Elisha went across. BSB BSB: Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the waters. “Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” he asked. And when he had struck the waters, they parted to the right and to the left, and Elisha crossed over.
Elisha Succeeds Elijah 15 UST The group of prophets who had come from Jericho saw from a distance what had happened. They exclaimed,“Elisha now has the power that Elijah had!” They walked over to Elisha and bowed down very low in front of him{ to show their respect}. BSB BSB: When the sons of the prophets who were watching him from Jericho saw what had happened, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him.
16 UST Then one of them told him,“Sir, we are concerned that after the Spirit of Yahweh picked up Elijah, he may have dropped him onto some mountain or into some valley. We would like to send fifty of our strongest men to look for him{ on the other side of the river}.” Elisha replied,“No, do not send them.” BSB BSB: “Look now,” they said to Elisha, “we your servants have fifty valiant men. Please let them go and search for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up and put him on one of the mountains or in one of the valleys.” “Do not send them,” Elisha replied.
17 UST But they kept asking, and finally he felt embarrassed{ because it appeared that he did not care about Elijah}. So he said,“Very well, send them.” So they had fifty men search for three days, but they did not find Elijah. BSB BSB: But when they pressed him to the point of embarrassment, he said, “Send them.” And they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find Elijah.
18 UST Elisha went back to Jericho to wait for them. When they returned and told him they had not found Elijah, he told them,“I told you that you should not go{, because he was actually in heaven and you would not find him}!” BSB BSB: When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”
Elisha Heals the Waters of Jericho 19 UST Then the leaders of Jericho came to talk with Elisha. One of them told him,“Sir, you can see that this is a very nice place to live in. But the water is harmful to drink. It is causing the women and female animals that live here to have miscarriages.” BSB BSB: Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Please note, our lord, that the city’s location is good, as you can see. But the water is bad and the land is unfruitful.”
20 UST Elisha told them,“Put some salt in a new bowl and bring it to me.” So they did that. BSB BSB: “Bring me a new bowl,” he replied, “and put some salt in it.” So they brought it to him,
21 UST Then Elisha went out to the spring from which the people in the town got water. He threw the salt into the spring. Then he said,“Yahweh declares that he has made this water safe. Drinking it will no longer cause the women and female animals here to have miscarriages.” BSB BSB: and Elisha went out to the spring, cast the salt into it, and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘I have healed this water. No longer will it cause death or unfruitfulness.’”
22 UST And the water became safe, just as Elisha declared it would. Since that time, it has remained pure. BSB BSB: And the waters there have been healthy to this day, according to the word spoken by Elisha.
Elisha Mocked 23 UST Elisha left Jericho and went to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, a group of boys came out from Bethel and started to make fun of him. They kept shouting at him,“Go away, you bald- headed man!” BSB BSB: From there, Elisha went up to Bethel, and as he was walking up the road, a group of boys came out of the city and jeered at him, chanting, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” 24 UST Elisha turned around to look at them. He declared that Yahweh had cursed them. Immediately two female bears came out of the woods and mauled{ and killed} 42 of them. BSB BSB: Then he turned around, looked at them, and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Suddenly two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.
25 UST Elisha continued past Bethel and went to Mount Carmel. After that, he returned to the city of Samaria. BSB BSB: And Elisha went on to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.