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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 room that was in
Samaria, and was sick. So he sent messengers, and said to them, "Go,
inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover of
this sickness."
{1:3} But the angel of [1>]the LORD[<1] 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 [2>]God[<2] in Israel, that you go to
inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? {1:4} Now therefore thus says
the LORD, "You shall not come down from the bed where you have 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, "A man came up to meet us, and said to us,
'Go, return to the king who sent you, and tell him, "Thus says the
LORD, '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 have gone up, but shall surely die.'"'"
{1:7} He said to them, "What kind 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 wearing a leather
belt around his waist."
He said, "It is Elijah the Tishbite."
{1:9} Then the king sent a captain of fifty with his fifty to him.
He went up to him; and behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill.
He said to him, "Man of God, the king has said, 'Come down!'"
{1:10} Elijah answered to the captain of fifty, "If I am 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, the king has said, 'Come down quickly!'"
{1:12} Elijah answered them, "If I am 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 the LORD 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 the LORD, '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 have gone up, but shall surely die.'"
{1:17} So he died according to the word of the LORD 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 the LORD 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 the LORD has sent me as far as
Bethel."
Elisha said, "As the LORD 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 out to
Elisha, and said to him, "Do you know that the LORD 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 the LORD
has sent me to Jericho."
He said, "As the LORD 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 the LORD 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 the LORD has sent
me to the Jordan."
He said, "As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not
leave you." They both went on. {2:7} Fifty men of the sons of the
prophets went, and stood opposite them at a distance; and they both
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. If you see me when I
am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be
so."
{2:11} It happened, as they still went on, and talked, that behold,
a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them; 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 its horsemen!"
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 the LORD, the God of Elijah?" 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 rests 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. Please let them go and seek your master.
Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up, and put him on some
mountain, or into some valley.
He said, "You shall not send them."
{2:17} When they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, "Send
them."
They sent therefore fifty men; and they searched for 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, please, 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 in it." They
brought it to him. {2:21} He went out to the spring of the waters, and
threw salt into it, and said, "Thus says the LORD, '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. 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 the LORD. 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
the LORD, 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 held 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. There was no water for the
army, nor for the animals that followed them. {3:10} The king of
Israel said, "Alas! For the LORD 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 the
LORD, that we may inquire of the LORD 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 the LORD 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? Go to the prophets of your father, and to the prophets of your
mother."
The king of Israel said to him, "No; for the LORD has called these
three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab." {3:14}
Elisha said, "As the LORD of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely,
were it not that I respect 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 the LORD came on him. {3:16} He said, "Thus says the LORD, 'Make
this valley full of trenches.' {3:17} For thus says the LORD, 'You
will not see wind, neither will you see rain; yet that valley shall be
filled with water, and you will drink, both you and your livestock and
your animals. {3:18} This is but a light thing in the sight of the
LORD. 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, water came 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} They
said, "This is blood. The kings are surely destroyed, and they have
struck each other. 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 its stones;
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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Footnotes:
[1] {1:3} "LORD" or "GOD" (all capital letters) indicate the 4-letter
Holy Name of God
[2] {1:3} The Hebrew word rendered "God" is "Elohim."
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