1When Yahweh was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha left Gilgal.
2Elijah said to Elisha, "Please stay here, for Yahweh has sent me as far as Bethel." Elisha replied, "As Yahweh lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.
3The groups of prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked him, "Do you know that Yahweh will take your master away from you today?" He said, "Yes, I know. Be quiet."
4Elijah said to him, "Elisha, please stay here, for Yahweh has sent me to Jericho." He replied, "As Yahweh lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they came to Jericho.
5The groups of prophets who were at Jericho came near to Elisha and asked him, "Do you know that Yahweh will take your master away from you today?" He answered, "Yes, I know. Be quiet."
6Elijah said to him, “Please stay here, because Yahweh has sent me to the Jordan River.” Elisha replied, “As surely as Yahweh lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So, they both continued on.
7Fifty men from the group of prophets went and stood a good distance away, facing them. Elijah and Elisha both stood by the Jordan River.
8Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, and struck the water with it. The water then parted to the left and to the right, and both of them crossed over on dry ground.
9After they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away from you.” Elisha answered, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.”
10Elijah said, “You have asked for a difficult thing. If you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours; but if you don’t see me, it will not be.”
11As they walked on, still talking, suddenly a chariot of fire pulled by horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them. Then Elijah was carried up to heaven in a whirlwind.
12Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father, my father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” He didn't see him anymore. Then Elisha grabbed his own clothes and ripped them in two pieces.
13He then picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen from him, and went back to stand by the bank of the Jordan River.
14He took Elijah's cloak, which had fallen from him, and struck the water with it, saying, “Where is Yahweh, the God of Elijah?” When he struck the water, it parted, and Elisha crossed over.
15When the group of prophets from Jericho, who were watching from the other side, saw him, they said, “Elijah’s spirit now rests on Elisha!” They came to meet him and bowed down to the ground in front of him.
16They said to him, “Look, your servants have fifty strong men. Please let them go and search for your master. Perhaps Yahweh’s Spirit has picked him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley.” Elisha said, “Don’t send them.”
17But they urged him until he was embarrassed, so he said, “Send them.” So they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but couldn’t find him.
18When they returned to Elisha, who was still in Jericho, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”
19The men of the city said to Elisha, “Sir, as you can see, this city is in a pleasant location; however, the water is bad, and the land causes miscarriages.”
20He said, “Bring me a new jar and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.
21He went out to the water spring, threw the salt into it, and said, “Yahweh says, ‘I have healed these waters. From now on, there will be no more death or barrenness from them.’”
22So the water has been healthy to this day, just as Elisha said.
23From there, Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some young men came out of the city and made fun of him, yelling, “Go away, bald head! Go away, bald head!”
24He turned around, looked at them, and cursed them in Yahweh’s name. Then two female bears came out of the woods and attacked forty-two of those young men.
25From there, he went to Mount Carmel, and then he returned to Samaria.