Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice in his upper room, which [was] in Samaria, and he was injured. So he sent messengers, and he said to them, "Go, inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, if I will survive this injury."

Then they said to him, "A man came up to meet us, and he said to us, 'Go, return to the king who sent you and speak to him, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you [are] sending to inquire of Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron? Therefore the bed upon which you have gone, you will not come down from it, for you will surely die.'" '"

They answered him, "A {hairy man} with a leather belt girded around his waist." And he said, "It [is] Elijah the Tishbite."

So {Ahaziah} sent to him the commander of fifty with his fifty [men], and he went up to him while he was sitting on the top of the hill. He said to him, " man of God, the king says, 'Come down.'"

Then Elijah answered and said to the commander of the fifty, "If I [am] a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty!" Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

So he {again sent} another commander of fifty and his fifty [men]. He answered and said to him, " man of God, thus says the king, 'Come down quickly!'"

Then Elijah answered and said to them, "If I [am] a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty!" Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

So he {again sent} a third [time] a commander of fifty and his fifty, and the commander of the third fifty went up and came and knelt down on his knees before Elijah and entreated him. He said to him, " man of God, please let my life and the lives of your servants, these fifty, be precious in your eyes.

and 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 [from whom] to inquire his word?--therefore the bed upon which you went, you shall not come down from it, for you shall surely die.'"

Elijah said to Elisha, "Please stay here, for Yahweh has sent me up to Bethel." Elisha said, "{As Yahweh lives} and {as your soul lives}, I will certainly not leave you!" So they went down [to] Bethel.

Then the sons of the prophets who [were in] Bethel came out to Elisha, and they said to him, "Do you know that Yahweh [is] going to take your master {from you} today?" He said, "I also know; be quiet!"

Elijah said to him, "Elisha, please stay here because Yahweh has sent me to Jericho." And he said, "{As Yahweh lives} and {as your soul lives}, I will certainly not leave you!" So they came to Jericho.

Then the sons of the prophets who [were] in Jericho came near to Elisha, and they said to him, "Do you know that Yahweh [is] going to take your master {from you} today?" He said, "I also know; be quiet!"

Then Elijah said to him, "Please stay here, because Yahweh has sent me to the Jordan." He said, "{As Yahweh lives} and {as your soul lives}, I will certainly not leave you!" So the two of them went on.

After they crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, "Ask what I may do for you before I am taken away from you." Then Elisha said, "Please let there come to me a double portion of your spirit."

He said, "What you ask is difficult. If you see me being taken from you, it will be so for you, but if not, it will not happen."

He took Elijah's cloak that had fallen from upon him and struck the water. Then he said, "Where is Yahweh, the God of Elijah?" So he also struck the water, and it divided {in two}, and Elisha crossed over.

Then they said to him, "Look, there are with your servants fifty able men. Please let them go and look for your master, lest the Spirit of Yahweh has lifted him up and thrown him on one of the mountains or into one of the valleys," but he said, "You must not send them."

But they urged him until embarrassing [him], so he said, "Send them." So they sent fifty men, and they looked for three days, but they could not find him.

Then they returned to him while he [was] staying in Jericho. He said to them, "Did I not tell you not to go?"

The men of the city said to Elisha, "Please now, the location of the city [is] good, as my master can see, but the water [is] bad and the land unproductive."

So he said, "Bring me a new bowl and put salt in it." So they brought it to him.

Then he went out to the spring of waters and threw the salt [into it] there and said, "Thus says Yahweh, 'I hereby purify these waters; let there be no longer any death or unproductiveness from it.'"

Then he went up from there [to] Bethel; as he [was] going up along the way, young boys came out from the city and mocked at him and said to him, "Go up, baldhead; go up, baldhead!"

He went and sent [a message] to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying, "The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me against Moab for the battle?" And he said, "I will go up. {I am like you}; {my people are like your people}; {my horses are like your horses}."

Then he said, "Which way shall we go up?" And he answered, "By way of the wilderness of Edom."

Then the king of Israel said, "Aha, Yahweh has called for these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab."

Then Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there no prophet of Yahweh here that we might inquire [guidance] from Yahweh?" One of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said, "Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah."

Jehoshaphat said, "The word of Yahweh is with him." So the king of Israel, Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom went down to him.

Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, "{What do we have in common}? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother." Then the king of Israel said to him, "No, for Yahweh has called for these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab."

Then Elisha said, "{As Yahweh of hosts lives}, before whom I stand, surely if I was not {regarding the face} of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would have not looked at you nor even glanced at you.

He said, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Make this wadi {full of cisterns},'

Then they said, "This [is] blood! Certainly the kings have fought one another, and each has killed his neighbor. Now, to the war booty, O Moab!"

Elisha asked her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" Then she said, "Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of olive oil."

Then he said to her, "Go, ask for yourself [some] containers from the streets, from all your neighbors. {You must collect as many empty containers as you can}!

It happened that when the containers were full, she said to her son, "Bring near me another container," but he said to her, "There is not another container." Then the olive oil stopped flowing.

So she came and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the olive oil and repay your debt. You and your sons can live on what is left over."

She said to her husband, "Please now, I know that he [is] a holy man of God who is passing {our way} regularly;

He said to Gehazi his servant, "Call to this Shunammite," so he called to her, and she stood before him.

He said to him, "Please say to her, 'Look, you took all this trouble, showing care for us; what is there [for me] to do for you? To speak for you to the king or to the commander of the army?'" She said, "I [am] living among my people."

Then he said, "What may be done for her?" Gehazi said, "Well, she has no son, and her husband is old."

And he said, "Call for her," so he called for her and she stood in the doorway.

And he said, "At this time {next spring}, you [will be] embracing a son." She said, "No, my lord, man of God! You must not tell a lie to your servant!"

Then he said to his father, "My head, my head!" So he said to the servant, "Carry him to his mother."

She called to her husband and said, "Please send one of the servants and one of the female donkeys for me, so that I can go quickly up to the man of God and return."

And he said, "Why are you going to him today? [It is] neither the new moon nor the Sabbath!" And she said, "Peace."

She saddled the female donkey, and she said to her servant, "Drive along and go; you must not hold me back from riding, unless I tell you."

So she went and came to the man of God by Mount Carmel. It happened when the man of God saw her {at a distance}, he said to Gehazi his servant, "There is this Shunammite.

Now, please run to meet her and ask her, 'Is it peace for you? Is it peace for your husband? Is it peace for the boy?'" She said, "Peace."

So she came to the man of God at the mountain, and she caught hold of his feet. Then Gehazi came near to push her away, but the man of God said, "Let her alone, for her soul is bitter, and Yahweh has hidden it from me and has not told me."

Then she said, "Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say that you must not mislead me?"

Then he said to Gehazi, "Gird up your loins and take my staff in your hand and go. If you meet anyone, you must not greet them; if anyone greets you, you must not answer them. You must put my staff on the face of the boy."

Then the mother of the boy said, "{As Yahweh lives} and {as your soul lives}, I will surely not leave you." So he got up and went after her.

[Elisha] called to Gehazi and said, "Call this Shunammite." So he called her and she came to him; then he said, "Pick up your son."

So Elisha returned to Gilgal. Now the famine [was] in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. He said to his servant, put on the large pot and cook a stew for the sons of the prophets.

They served the men to eat, but when they ate from the stew, they cried out and said, "There [is] death in the pot, man of God!" They were not able to eat [it].

Then he said, "Bring [some] flour," and he threw it into the pot. He then said, "Serve the people and let them eat." There was nothing harmful in the pot.

A man came from Baal-Shalishah and brought food to the man of God: firstfruits and twenty loaves of barley bread, with ripe grain in his sack. He said, "Give [it] to the people and let them eat."

Then his servant said, "How can I set this before a hundred men?" He said, "Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus Yahweh says, 'They shall eat and have some left over.'"

She said to her mistress, "If only my lord would [come] before the prophet who [is] in Samaria; then {he would cure his skin disease}."

He came and told his master, saying, "Thus and so the girl who [is] from the land of Israel said."

So the king of Aram said, "Go, I will send a letter to the king of Israel." He went and took {with him} ten talents of silver, six thousand [shekels of] gold, and ten sets of clothing.

It happened that when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God to cause death or to give life? This man [is] sending a man to me to cure his disease. Indeed! But know and see that he seeks an opportunity against me."

But Naaman became angry and he went and said, "Look, I said to myself, 'Surely he will come out, stand, call upon the name of Yahweh his God, and wave his hands over the spot; then he would take away the skin disease.'

But his servants came near and spoke to him and said, "My father, [if] the prophet had spoken a difficult thing to you to do, would you not have done [it]? [Why not] even when he says to you, 'Wash and you shall be clean'?"

When he returned to the man of God, he and all of his army, he came and stood before him and said, "Please now, I know that there is no God in all of the world except in Israel. So then, please take a gift from your servant."

And he said, "{As Yahweh lives}, before whom I stand, I surely will not take [it]." [Still] he urged him to take [it], but he refused.

Then Naaman said, "If not, then please let a load of soil on a pair of mules be given to your servants, for your servant will never again bring a burnt offering and sacrifice to other gods, [but] only to Yahweh.

He said to him, "Go in peace," so he went from him {a short distance}.

He said, "Peace. My master has sent me saying, 'Look, {just now} two servants from the hill country of Ephraim came to me, from the sons of the prophets. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.'"

Then Naaman said, "Be prepared to accept two talents." So he urged him and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing and gave it to two of his servants and they carried it before him.

When he went and stood by his master, Elisha asked him, "From where have you come, Gehazi?" And he said, "Your servant has not gone {anywhere}."

Then he said to him, "Did not my heart go [with you] as the man turned from on his chariot to meet you? [Is] it time to take silver, clothes, olive orchards, vineyards, sheep, oxen, male slaves, and female slaves?

Then the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "Please look; the place where we are living before you [is] too cramped for us.

Let us please go to the Jordan and each bring from there one log that we might make a place there for us to live." Then he said, "Do so."

Then a certain one said, "Please be prepared and go with your servants," and he said, "I will go."

It happened as the one [was] felling the log, that the iron ax fell into the water. He called out and said, "Oh, no! My master, it was borrowed!"

Then the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" So he showed him the place, and then he cut off a stick and threw [it] there and made the iron ax float.

Then he said, "Pick [it] up for yourself," so he stretched out his hand and took it.

So the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God said to him and warned him, so he was on guard there {continually}.

Then the heart of the king of Aram was stormy because of this matter, so he called his servants and said to them, "Can you not tell me {who among us sides with the king of Israel}?"

Then one of his servants said, "No, my lord the king, but Elisha the prophet who is [in] Israel tells the king of Israel things which you speak {in your own bedchamber}."

Then he said, "Go and see where he [is] so that I can send and capture him." Then he was told to him, "Look, [he is] in Dothan."

The attendant of the man of God arose early and went out, and look, the army [was] surrounding the city with horses and chariots. His servant said to him, "Oh no, my master! What shall we do?"

And he said, "Don't be afraid, for more [are] with us than are with them."

Then Elisha prayed and said, "O Yahweh, please open his eyes that he may see," and Yahweh opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw, and look, the mountain [was] full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

They came down to him, and Elisha prayed to Yahweh and said, "Please strike this people with blindness," so he struck them with blindness as {Elisha had spoken}.

Then Elisha said to them, "This [is] not the way and this [is] not the city. Come after me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek." Then he brought them to Samaria.

It happened at the moment they came to Samaria, Elisha said, "O Yahweh, open the eyes of these that they may see," so Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw, and look, the middle of Samaria!

Then the king of Israel said to Elisha when he saw them, "Shall I kill them? Shall I kill, my father?"

And he said, "You shall not kill. Would you kill [those] whom you took captive with the sword or with the bow? Put food and water before them that they may eat and drink and then go to their master."

He said, "No, let Yahweh help you. {How} can I save you? From the threshing floor or from the wine press?"

The king said to her, "{What is the problem}?" Then the woman said, "This woman said to me, 'Give me your son, and let us eat him today, then tomorrow we will eat my son.'

So we cooked my son and ate him, and I said to her the next day, 'Give your son that we may eat him.' But she had hidden her son."

Then he said, "May God do to me and thus may he add, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today!"

Now Elisha [was] sitting in his house and the elders [were] sitting with him, and [the king] dispatched a man from before him, but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, "Did you see that this son of a murderer has sent to remove my head? Look, when the messenger comes, close the door; and you must {hold the door closed against him}. [Is] not the sound of the feet of his master behind him?"

While he [was] still speaking with them, suddenly the messenger [was] coming down to him, and he said, "Look this trouble [is] from Yahweh. Why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?"

Elisha said, "Hear the word of Yahweh: 'Thus says Yahweh, "At this time tomorrow a seah of wheat bread flour [will sell] for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria.'"

Then the officer {on whom the king relied} answered the man of God and said, "Look, [even if] Yahweh [is] making windows in heaven, could this thing happen?" And he said, "Look, you [will be] seeing [it] with your eyes, but you shall not eat from it there."

Now four men who had a skin disease were [at] the entrance of the gate, and they said {to each other}, "Why [are] we sitting here until we die?