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¹ AND it came to pass, when the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha had departed from Gilgal.² And Elijah said to Elisha, Wait for me here, for the LORD has sent me to Beth-el. And Elisha said, As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So they went down to Beth-el.³ And the sons of the prophets who were at Beth-el came forth to Elisha and said to him, Do you know that today the LORD will take away your master from over you? And he said, Yes, I also know it: hold your peace.⁴ And Elijah said to Elisha, Wait for me here; for the LORD has sent me to Jericho. And he said. As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So they came to Jericho.⁵ And the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, Do you know that today the LORD will take away your master from over you? And he answered, Yes, I also know it; hold your peace.⁶ And Elijah said to Elisha, Wait for me here; for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan. And he said, As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. And they two went on.⁷ And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood to watch from afar; and they two stood by the Jordan.⁸ Then Elijah took his mantle and wrapped it together and struck the waters of the Jordan, and they were divided half hither and half thither, so that they two crossed on dry ground.

⁹ And when they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken away from you. And Elisha said, Let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.¹⁰ And he said, You have asked too much; nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so to you; but if not, it shall not be so.¹¹ And it came to pass, as they still went on and talked, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and separated the two; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.¹² And Elisha saw it and he cried, saying, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more; and he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

¹³ Then he took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan;¹⁴ And he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the waters and said, O LORD, the God of my lord Elijah! And when he also had struck the waters of the Jordan, they parted half hither and half thither; and Elisha went over.¹⁵ And when the sons of the prophets who came to watch at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.¹⁶ And they said to him, Behold now, there are with your servants fifty strong men; let them go and seek your master, lest peradventure the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up and cast him upon one of the mountains or into one of the valleys. And he said, You shall not send.¹⁷ And when they urged him till he was embarrassed, he said, Send. So they sent therefore fifty men; and they sought him for three days, but found him not.¹⁸ And when they came back to him (while he tarried at Jericho), he said to them, Did I not say to you, Do not go?

¹⁹ And the men of the city said to Elisha, Behold, the situation of the city is pleasant, as our lord sees; but the water is bad and the ground is barren.²⁰ And he said, Bring me a new cruse and put salt in it. And they brought it to him.²¹ And he went forth to the spring of water and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus says the LORD: I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.²² So the waters were healed to this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spoke.²³ And he went up from thence to Beth-el; and as he was going up along the way, there came forth little boys out of the city and mocked him, saying, Go up, you bald head, go up, you bald head.²⁴ And he turned back and saw them and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she-bears out of the forest, and tore forty-two of the boys.²⁵ And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.