Elijah Caught Up to Heaven
4 Kingdoms 2, verse 1. As the time came to be for the Lord to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha went from Gilgal. 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 2. Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, please, for the Lord sent me to Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So they went to Bethel. 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 3. Now the sons of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that this day the Lord will take away your master from over your head?” And he said, “I know. Please be silent!” 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 4. Then Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, please, for the Lord sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” And they went to Jericho. 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 5. Now the sons of the prophets in Jericho came to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that this day the Lord will take away your master from over your head?” So he answered, “I know, please be silent!” 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 6. Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, please, for the Lord sent me on to the Jordan.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So both of them went on. 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 7. Fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood facing them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan. 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 8. Now Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water. The water divided this way and that, and the two of them crossed on dry ground. 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 9. So it was that during the time they crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I may do for you, before I am taken away from you.” Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.” 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 10. So Elijah said, “You have asked a hard thing. If you see me when I am taken up from you, it shall be so for you; and if not, it shall not be so.” 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 11. Thus it came to be, as they walked and continued to talk, behold a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and the fire separated them one from the other; and Elijah was taken up into heaven by a whirlwind. 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 12. Then Elisha saw it and cried aloud, “Father, O father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” He saw Elijah no more, and he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 13. Then he raised Elijah's mantle, which fell from Elijah and upon Elisha, and Elisha returned and stood on the bank of the River Jordan. 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 14. He took Elijah's mantle which had fallen upon him and struck the water, but it did not divide. Then he said, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah himself?” And he struck the water again, and it divided this way and that. So Elisha crossed over. 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 15. When the sons of the prophets in Jericho met him and saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 16. They said to him, “Look! There are fifty men of power with your servants. Please let them go and search for your master, lest perhaps the Spirit of the Lord took him up and cast him into the Jordan or onto one of the mountains or onto one of the hills.” Elisha said, “Send no one.” 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 17. But they urged him till he was ashamed, and he said, “Send them!” They sent fifty men and searched for three days, but did not find him. 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 18. They came back to where Elisha stayed in Jericho. And he said to them, “Did I not say to you, ‘Do not go’?”
Elisha Works Miracles
4 Kingdoms 2, verse 19. Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, as my lord can see, this city is a pleasant place to live, but the water is bad, and the ground is barren.” 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 20. So Elisha said, “Bring me a new water pitcher and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 21. Then he went out to the spring of the waters and cast salt into it, and said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘I have healed these waters; from them there shall no longer be death or barrenness.’” 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 22. So the water was healed by the word Elisha spoke, and so it remains today. 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 23. From there he went up to Bethel. Along the way some young boys came from the city who continued teasing him by saying, “Go up, baldy, go up!” 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 24. So Elisha turned around and stared at them. He then cursed them in the name of the Lord, and two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. 4 Kingdoms 2, verse 25. From there he went to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.