2 Kings 2 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~852 BC, at the transition between the prophetic careers of Elijah and Elisha
Location
A route running from Gilgal down through Bethel and Jericho to the Jordan River, then back to Jericho and up to Bethel, covering the eastern edge of the central hill country
Audience
Later Judean readers who knew the prophetic movement mainly through stories, and needed to understand where Elisha's authority came from
Situation
Elijah walks a farewell circuit through the prophetic communities, parts the Jordan with his rolled-up cloak, and is taken up in a whirlwind. Elisha picks up the fallen cloak, repeats the miracle, purifies Jericho's spring, and is jeered at by a crowd of youths near Bethel.
Key Background
Elisha asks for a double portion of Elijah's spirit, which borrows the inheritance law giving a firstborn son twice the share of any other heir, so the request is for successor status, not for twice the power. Bethel and Gilgal were old worship sites hosting groups often called the sons of the prophets, apprentice communities living together under a senior prophet. The mocking phrase aimed at Elisha, telling the bald man to go up, appears to taunt him about Elijah's disappearance, and in a culture where a prophet's word carried the weight of the God who sent him, publicly ridiculing that office was treated as a challenge to the office itself.
When was about to up to the sky in a and were leaving
Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here — Yahweh has sent me to But Elisha said, "As and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to
The at Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, "Do you know that Yahweh is going to take your master away from you today?" He said, "Yes, I know. Be
Then Elijah said to him, "Elisha, stay here — Yahweh has sent me to But he said, "As Yahweh lives, and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went to
The prophets' apprentices at Jericho came up to Elisha and said to him, "Do you know that Yahweh is going to take your master away from you today?" He answered, "Yes, I know. Be quiet."
Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here — Yahweh has sent me to the But he said, "As Yahweh lives, and as you live, I will not leave you." So the two of them walked on.
from the prophets' apprentices went and stood watching from a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan.
Elijah took his rolled it up, and struck the water. The water to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on
When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, "Ask me for something before I'm taken from you." Elisha said, "Let me inherit a of your
He said, "You've asked for something If you see me being taken from you, it will be yours. But if you don't see it, it won't."
As they kept walking and talking, suddenly a of and of appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah up to the in a windstorm.
Elisha watched and cried out, "My My The of and its Then he couldn't see him anymore. He grabbed his own clothes and them in
He picked up Elijah's that had from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.
He took Elijah's cloak that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, "Where is the of When he struck the water, it split to the right and to the left, and Elisha crossed over.
When the prophets' apprentices from Jericho saw him from across the water, they said, "The spirit of Elijah on Elisha." They came to meet him and to the before him.
They said to him, "Look, have fifty strong men. Let them go search for master — maybe the of picked him up and dropped him on some mountain or in some valley." He said, "Don't send them."
But they kept pressing him until he was to so he said, "Send them." They sent fifty men and searched for but didn't find him.
They came back to him while he was staying in Jericho. He said to them, "Didn't I tell you not to go?"
The men of the city said to Elisha, "Look, this city is in a good location, as my master can see, but the water is and the land is
He said, "Bring me a and put in it." So they brought it to him.
He went out to the spring where the water came from and threw the salt into it, saying, "This is what 'I have this water. It will no longer cause death or miscarriages.'"
The water has been just as Elisha said it would be.
From there he went up to Bethel. As he was walking up the road, some came out of the city and mocked him, saying, "Go on up, Go on up,
He turned around, looked at them, and a on them in the of Then two came out of the woods and forty-two of them.
From there he went to and from there he returned to