The Second Book Melakhim, starting at chapter 1
{1:1} Mo'av rebelled against Yisra'el after the death of Ach'av.
{1:2} Achazyah fell down through the lattice in his upper chamber that
was in Shomron, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said to
them, Go, inquire of Ba`al-Zevuv, the god of `Ekron, whether I shall
recover of this sickness. {1:3} But the angel of the LORD said to
Eliyah the Tishbi, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of
Shomron, and tell them, Is it because there is no God in Yisra'el,
that you go to inquire of Ba`al-Zevuv, the god of `Ekron? {1:4} Now
therefore thus says the LORD, You shall not come down from the bed
where you are gone up, but shall surely die. Eliyah 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 the LORD, Is it because there is no God in Yisra'el,
that you send to inquire of Ba`al-Zevuv, 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 loins. He
said, It is Eliyah the Tishbi. {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} Eliyah 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} Eliyah 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 Eliyah, 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 Eliyah, 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
Ba`al-Zevuv, the god of `Ekron, is it because there is no God in
Yisra'el 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 the LORD which Eliyah had spoken.
Yehoram began to reign in his place in the second year of Yehoram the
son of Yehoshafat king of Yehudah; because he had no son. {1:18} Now
the rest of the acts of Achazyah which he did, aren't they written in
the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yisra'el?
{2:1} It happened, when the LORD would take up Eliyah by a
whirlwind into heaven, that Eliyah went with Elisha from Gilgal. {2:2}
Eliyah said to Elisha, Please wait here, for the LORD has sent me as
far as Beit-El. Elisha said, As the LORD lives, and as your soul
lives, I will not leave you. So they went down to Beit-El. {2:3} The
sons of the prophets who were at Beit-El came forth 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 shalom."
{2:4} Eliyah said to him, Elisha, please wait here, for the LORD has
sent me to Yericho. He said, As the LORD lives, and as your soul
lives, I will not leave you. So they came to Yericho. {2:5} The sons
of the prophets who were at Yericho 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 shalom."
{2:6} Eliyah said to him, "Please wait here, for the LORD has sent
me to the Yarden."
He said, "As the LORD 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 Yarden. {2:8} Eliyah 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 Eliyah 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 Eliyah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. {2:12}
Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariots of
Yisra'el 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 Eliyah that fell from him, and went back, and stood
by the bank of the Yarden. {2:14} He took the mantle of Eliyah that
fell from him, and struck the waters, and said, Where is the LORD, the
God of Eliyah? 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 Yericho over against him saw him, they said,
The spirit of Eliyah 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 the LORD 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 Yericho; 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
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 Beit-El; and as he was going up by the way,
there came forth young lads 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. There came
forth two she-bears out of the wood, and mauled forty-two lads of
them. {2:25} He went from there to Mount Karmel, and from there he
returned to Shomron.
{3:1} Now Yehoram the son of Ach'av began to reign over Yisra'el in
Shomron in the eighteenth year of Yehoshafat king of Yehudah, 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 Ba`al that his father had made. {3:3} Nevertheless
he cleaved to the sins of Yarov`am the son of Nevat, with which he
made Yisra'el to sin; he didn't depart from it. {3:4} Now Mesha king
of Mo'av was a sheep-master; and he rendered to the king of Yisra'el
the wool of one hundred thousand lambs, and of one hundred thousand
rams. {3:5} But it happened, when Ach'av was dead, that the king of
Mo'av rebelled against the king of Yisra'el. {3:6} King Yehoram went
out of Shomron at that time, and mustered all Yisra'el. {3:7} He went
and sent to Yehoshafat the king of Yehudah, saying, The king of Mo'av
has rebelled against me: will you go with me against Mo'av 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
Yisra'el went, and the king of Yehudah, and the king of Edom; and they
made a circuit of seven days' journey: and there was no water for the
host, nor for the animals that followed them. {3:10} The king of
Yisra'el said, Alas! for the LORD has called these three kings
together to deliver them into the hand of Mo'av. {3:11} But Yehoshafat
said, Isn't there here a prophet of the LORD, that we may inquire of
the LORD by him? One of the king of Yisra'el's servants answered,
Elisha the son of Shafat is here, who poured water on the hands of
Eliyah. {3:12} Yehoshafat said, The word of the LORD is with him. So
the king of Yisra'el and Yehoshafat and the king of Edom went down to
him. {3:13} Elisha said to the king of Yisra'el, 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 Yisra'el said to him, No; for the LORD has
called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of
Mo'av. {3:14} Elisha said, As the LORD of Hosts lives, before whom I
stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Yehoshafat
the king of Yehudah, 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 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 cattle and your animals. {3:18} This is but a light thing in the
sight of the LORD: he will also deliver the Mo`avim 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 Mo`avim 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
Mo`avim 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, Mo'av, to the spoil.
{3:24} When they came to the camp of Yisra'el, the Yisra'elites rose
up and struck the Mo`avim, so that they fled before them; and they
went forward into the land smiting the Mo`avim. {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-Hareset [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 Mo'av 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
Yisra'el: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.
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