2 Kings 2:15-25 - Elisha Begins His Ministry

¹⁵ And when the sons of the prophets who were facing him at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha. And they came out to him, and went down on the earth before him.

¹⁶ And they said, Your servants have with us here fifty strong men; be pleased to let them go in search of Elijah; for it may be that the spirit of the Lord has taken him up and put him down on some mountain or in some valley. But he said, Do not send them.

¹⁷ But when they kept on requesting him, he was shamed and said, Send, then. So they sent fifty men; but after searching for three days, they came back without having seen him. ¹⁸ And they came back to him, while he was still at Jericho; and he said to them, Did I not say to you, Go not?

¹⁹ Now the men of the town said to Elisha, You see that the position of this town is good; but the water is bad, causing the young of the cattle to come to birth dead.

²⁰ So he said, Get me a new vessel, and put salt in it; and they took it to him. ²¹ Then he went out to the spring from which the water came, and put salt in it, and said, The Lord says, Now I have made this water sweet; no longer will it be death-giving or unfertile. ²² And the water was made sweet again to this day, as Elisha said.

²³ Then from there he went up to Beth-el; and on his way, some little boys came out from the town and made sport of him, crying, Go up, old no-hair! go up, old no-hair! ²⁴ And turning back, he saw them, and put a curse on them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the wood and put forty-two of the children to death. ²⁵ From there he went to Mount Carmel, and came back from there to Samaria.