The Second Book of Kings, starting at chapter 1
{1:1} Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. {1:2}
Ahaziah fell down through the lattice in his upper chamber that was in
Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said to them, Go,
inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of
this sickness. {1:3} But the angel of Yahweh said to Elijah the
Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria,
and tell them, Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you go to
inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? {1:4} Now therefore thus says
Yahweh, You shall not come down from the bed where you are gone up,
but shall surely die. Elijah departed. {1:5} The messengers returned
to him, and he said to them, Why is it that you have returned? {1:6}
They said to him, There came up a man to meet us, and said to us, Go,
turn again to the king who sent you, and tell him, Thus says Yahweh,
Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you send to inquire of
Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? therefore you shall not come down from
the bed where you are gone up, but shall surely die. {1:7} He said to
them, What manner of man was he who came up to meet you, and told you
these words? {1:8} They answered him, He was a hairy man, and girt
with a belt of leather about his waist. He said, It is Elijah the
Tishbite. {1:9} Then [the king] sent to him a captain of fifty with
his fifty. He went up to him: and behold, he was sitting on the top of
the hill. He spoke to him, man of God, the king has said, Come down.
{1:10} Elijah answered to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God,
let fire come down from the sky, and consume you and your fifty. Fire
came down from the sky, and consumed him and his fifty. {1:11} Again
he sent to him another captain of fifty and his fifty. He answered
him, man of God, thus has the king said, Come down quickly. {1:12}
Elijah answered them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from
the sky, and consume you and your fifty. The fire of God came down
from the sky, and consumed him and his fifty. {1:13} Again he sent the
captain of a third fifty with his fifty. The third captain of fifty
went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him,
and said to him, man of God, please let my life, and the life of these
fifty your servants, be precious in your sight. {1:14} Behold, fire
came down from the sky, and consumed the two former captains of fifty
with their fifties; but now let my life be precious in your sight.
{1:15} The angel of Yahweh said to Elijah, Go down with him: don't be
afraid of him. He arose, and went down with him to the king. {1:16} He
said to him, Thus says Yahweh, Because you have sent messengers to
inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God
in Israel to inquire of his word? therefore you shall not come down
from the bed where you are gone up, but shall surely die. {1:17} So he
died according to the word of Yahweh which Elijah had spoken. Jehoram
began to reign in his place in the second year of Jehoram the son of
Jehoshaphat king of Judah; because he had no son. {1:18} Now the rest
of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, aren't they written in the book
of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
{2:1} It happened, when Yahweh would take up Elijah by a whirlwind
into heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. {2:2} Elijah
said to Elisha, Please wait here, for Yahweh has sent me as far as
Bethel. Elisha said, As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will
not leave you. So they went down to Bethel. {2:3} The sons of the
prophets who were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said to him, "Do
you know that Yahweh will take away your master from your head today?"
He said, "Yes, I know it; hold your peace."
{2:4} Elijah said to him, Elisha, please wait here, for Yahweh has
sent me to Jericho. He said, As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives,
I will not leave you. So they came to Jericho. {2:5} The sons of the
prophets who were at Jericho came near to Elisha, and said to him, "Do
you know that Yahweh will take away your master from your head today?"
He answered, "Yes, I know it. Hold your peace."
{2:6} Elijah said to him, "Please wait here, for Yahweh has sent me
to the Jordan."
He said, "As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave
you." They two went on. {2:7} Fifty men of the sons of the prophets
went, and stood over against them afar off: and they two stood by the
Jordan. {2:8} Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and
struck the waters, and they were divided here and there, so that they
two went over on dry ground. {2:9} It happened, when they had gone
over, that Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for you, before
I am taken from you. Elisha said, please let a double portion of your
spirit be on me. {2:10} He said, You have asked a hard thing:
[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. {2:11} It happened, as they
still went on, and talked, that behold, [there appeared] a chariot of
fire, and horses of fire, which parted them both apart; and Elijah
went up by a whirlwind into heaven. {2:12} Elisha saw it, and he
cried, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen
of it! He saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and
tore them in two pieces. {2:13} He took up also the mantle of Elijah
that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of the
Jordan. {2:14} He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and
struck the waters, and said, Where is Yahweh, the God of Elijah? and
when he also had struck the waters, they were divided here and there;
and Elisha went over. {2:15} When the sons of the prophets who were at
Jericho over against him saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah does
rest on Elisha. They came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the
ground before him. {2:16} They said to him, See now, there are with
your servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray you, and seek
your master, lest the Spirit of Yahweh has taken him up, and cast him
on some mountain, or into some valley. He said, You shall not send.
{2:17} When they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, Send. They
sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but didn't find
him. {2:18} They came back to him, while he stayed at Jericho; and he
said to them, "Didn't I tell you, 'Don't go?'" {2:19} The men of the
city said to Elisha, Behold, we pray you, the situation of this city
is pleasant, as my lord sees: but the water is bad, and the land
miscarries. {2:20} He said, Bring me a new jar, and put salt therein.
They brought it to him. {2:21} He went forth to the spring of the
waters, and cast salt therein, and said, Thus says Yahweh, I have
healed these waters; there shall not be from there any more death or
miscarrying. {2:22} So the waters were healed to this day, according
to the word of Elisha which he spoke. {2:23} He went up from there to
Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, some youths came out of the
city and mocked him, and said to him, Go up, you baldy; go up, you
baldhead. {2:24} He looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in
the name of Yahweh. Two female bears came out of the woods, and mauled
forty-two of those youths. {2:25} He went from there to Mount Carmel,
and from there he returned to Samaria.
{3:1} Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in
Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and
reigned twelve years. {3:2} He did that which was evil in the sight of
Yahweh, but not like his father, and like his mother; for he put away
the pillar of Baal that his father had made. {3:3} Nevertheless he
cleaved to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made
Israel to sin; he didn't depart from it. {3:4} Now Mesha king of Moab
was a sheep breeder; and he rendered to the king of Israel the wool of
one hundred thousand lambs, and of one hundred thousand rams. {3:5}
But it happened, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled
against the king of Israel. {3:6} King Jehoram went out of Samaria at
that time, and mustered all Israel. {3:7} He went and sent to
Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab has rebelled
against me: will you go with me against Moab to battle? He said, I
will go up: I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as
your horses. {3:8} He said, Which way shall we go up? He answered, The
way of the wilderness of Edom. {3:9} So the king of Israel went, and
the king of Judah, and the king of Edom; and they made a circuit of
seven days' journey: and there was no water for the army, nor for the
animals that followed them. {3:10} The king of Israel said, Alas! for
Yahweh has called these three kings together to deliver them into the
hand of Moab. {3:11} But Jehoshaphat said, Isn't there here a prophet
of Yahweh, that we may inquire of Yahweh by him? One of the king of
Israel's servants answered, Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who
poured water on the hands of Elijah. {3:12} Jehoshaphat said, The word
of Yahweh is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the
king of Edom went down to him. {3:13} Elisha said to the king of
Israel, What have I to do with you? get you to the prophets of your
father, and to the prophets of your mother. The king of Israel said to
him, No; for Yahweh has called these three kings together to deliver
them into the hand of Moab. {3:14} Elisha said, As Yahweh of Armies
lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the
presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward
you, nor see you. {3:15} But now bring me a minstrel. It happened,
when the minstrel played, that the hand of Yahweh came on him. {3:16}
He said, Thus says Yahweh, Make this valley full of trenches. {3:17}
For thus says Yahweh, You shall not see wind, neither shall you see
rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, and you shall drink,
both you and your livestock and your animals. {3:18} This is but a
light thing in the sight of Yahweh: he will also deliver the Moabites
into your hand. {3:19} You shall strike every fortified city, and
every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all
springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones. {3:20}
It happened in the morning, about the time of offering the offering,
that behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was
filled with water. {3:21} Now when all the Moabites heard that the
kings had come up to fight against them, they gathered themselves
together, all who were able to put on armor, and upward, and stood on
the border. {3:22} They rose up early in the morning, and the sun
shone on the water, and the Moabites saw the water over against them
as red as blood: {3:23} and they said, This is blood; the kings are
surely destroyed, and they have struck each man his fellow: now
therefore, Moab, to the spoil. {3:24} When they came to the camp of
Israel, the Israelites rose up and struck the Moabites, so that they
fled before them; and they went forward into the land smiting the
Moabites. {3:25} They beat down the cities; and on every good piece of
land they cast every man his stone, and filled it; and they stopped
all the springs of water, and felled all the good trees, until in Kir
Hareseth [only] they left the stones of it; however the men armed with
slings went about it, and struck it. {3:26} When the king of Moab saw
that the battle was too severe for him, he took with him seven hundred
men who drew sword, to break through to the king of Edom; but they
could not. {3:27} Then he took his eldest son who would have reigned
in his place, and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. There
was great wrath against Israel: and they departed from him, and
returned to their own land.
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