Elijah Is Taken to Heaven
2 When the Lord was about to take Elijah by a whirlwind up into heaven, Elijah and Elisha were leaving Gilgal. 2 Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here. The Lord has ·told me to go to [L sent me as far as] Bethel.”
But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you live, I won’t leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. 3 The ·groups [company; brotherhood; L sons] of prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know the Lord will take your ·master [lord] away from you today?”
Elisha said, “Yes, I know, ·but don’t talk about it [be quiet/still].”
4 Elijah said to him, “Stay here, Elisha, because the Lord has sent me to Jericho.”
But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you live, I won’t leave you.”
So they went to Jericho. 5 The ·groups [company; brotherhood; L sons] of prophets at Jericho came to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the Lord will take your ·master [lord] away from you today?”
Elisha answered, “Yes, I know, ·but don’t talk about it [be quiet/still].”
6 Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here. The Lord has sent me to the Jordan River.”
Elisha answered, “As the Lord lives, and as you live, I won’t leave you.”
So the two of them went on. 7 Fifty men of the ·groups [company; brotherhood; L sons] of prophets came and stood ·far [at a distance] from where Elijah and Elisha were standing by the Jordan. 8 Elijah took off his ·coat [cloak; T mantle], ·rolled [folded] it up, and hit the water. The water divided to ·the right and to the left [L one side and the other], and Elijah and Elisha crossed over on dry ground [C reminiscent of the crossing of the Sea; Ex. 14].
9 After they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “What can I do for you before I am taken from you?”
Elisha said, “Leave me a double ·share [portion] of your spirit [C like a firstborn heir (Deut. 21:17), he asks for double the blessing of other followers of Elijah, not twice as much as Elijah].”
10 Elijah said, “You have asked a ·hard [difficult] thing. But if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be ·yours [as you request]. If you don’t, it won’t happen.”
11 As they were walking along and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and ·separated [drove between] Elijah from Elisha. Then Elijah ·went up [ascended] to heaven in a whirlwind. 12 Elisha saw it and shouted, “My father! My father! The chariots of Israel and ·their horsemen [its charioteers/or horses]!” And Elisha did not see him anymore. Then Elisha grabbed his own clothes and tore them in two [C a sign of mourning or distress].
13 He picked up Elijah’s ·coat [cloak; T mantle] that had fallen from him. Then he returned and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 Elisha hit the water with Elijah’s ·coat [cloak; T mantle] and said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” When he hit the water, it divided to ·the right and to the left [L one side and the other], and Elisha crossed over [2:8].
15 The ·groups [company; brotherhood; L sons] of prophets at Jericho were watching from a distance and said, “·Elisha now has the spirit Elijah had [L Elijah’s spirit now rests on Elisha].” And they came to meet him, bowing down to the ground before him. 16 They said to him, “There are fifty ·strong [able] men with us. Please let them go and look for your ·master [lord]. Maybe the Spirit of the Lord has taken Elijah up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley.”
But Elisha answered, “No, don’t send them.”
17 When the ·groups [company; brotherhood; L sons] of prophets had begged Elisha until he ·couldn’t refuse them anymore [was too embarrassed/ashamed to refuse], he said, “Send them.” So they sent fifty men who looked for three days, but they could not find him. 18 Then they came back to Elisha at Jericho where he was staying. He said to them, “I told you not to go, didn’t I?”
Elisha Makes the Water of Jericho Pure
19 The people of the city said to Elisha, “Look, ·master [lord], this city is ·a nice place to live [well/pleasantly situated/located] as you can see. But the water is so bad the land ·cannot grow crops [is unproductive/unfruitful].”
20 Elisha said, “Bring me a new bowl and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.
21 Then he went out to the ·spring [water source] and threw the salt in it. He said, “·This is what the Lord says [T Thus says the Lord]: ‘I have ·healed [purified; made wholesome] this water. From now on it won’t cause death, ·and it won’t keep the land from growing crops [or unfruitfulness/unproductiveness/or miscarriage].’” 22 So the water has been ·healed [purified; made wholesome] to this day just as Elisha had said.
Boys Make Fun of Elisha
23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. On the way some boys came out of the city and ·made fun of [mocked; jeered at; Ps. 1:1; Prov. 1:22; 3:34; 13:1; Gal. 6:7] him. They said to him, “Go ·up too, you baldhead [away, baldy]! Go ·up too, you baldhead [away, baldy]!” 24 Elisha turned around, looked at them, and put a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two mother bears came out of the woods and ·tore [mauled] forty-two of the boys to pieces. 25 Elisha went to Mount Carmel and from there he returned to Samaria.