Look how fire fell from heaven and devoured the two other companies of 50 soldiers, along with their captains, but now please treat me as if my life were precious!"

Just before the Lord took Elijah up to heaven in a windstorm, Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal.

Elijah and Elisha were going from Gilgal, and Elijah said to Elisha, "Tarry here, I pray thee, for the LORD hath sent me to Bethel." But Elisha said, "As surely as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee." And when they came to Bethel,

The sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out 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."

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."

But Elisha responded, "As the LORD lives, and while you're still alive, I'm not going to leave you!" So they went on their way, accompanied by 50 men from the Guild of Prophets, who stood at a short distance from them while they were both standing by the Jordan.

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.

And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.

Then they [were] walking, talking as they went. Suddenly a fiery chariot with horses of fire [appeared] and separated between the two of them. Elijah went up in the storm [to] the heavens

He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and struck the waters, and said, "Where is Yahweh, the God of Elijah?" When he also had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha went over.

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.

But they were so insistent, he became embarrassed. So he said, "Send them out." They sent the fifty men out and they looked for three days, but could not find Elijah.

So the waters were healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.

So the king of Israel and the king of Judah and the king of Edom went around, a way of seven days, but there was no water for the army or for the animals which {were with them}.

Elisha said, "As Yahweh of Armies 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.

And it came to pass, in the morning, when the offering ascended, that lo! waters, were coming in from the way of Edom, - and the land was filled with the water.

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.

When they got up early the next morning, the sun was shining on the water. To the Moabites, who were some distance away, the water looked red like blood.

And they will say, This the blood of the sword; the kings were destroyed, and they will strike a man his neighbor: and now to the spoil, Moab.

They tore down the cities and each man threw a stone into every cultivated field until they were covered. They stopped up every spring and chopped down every productive tree. Only Kir Hareseth was left intact, but the slingers surrounded it and attacked it.

When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too heavy for him, he took with him seven hundred men who drew the sword to break through to the king of Edom, but they were not able.

So she went from him, and she shut the door behind her and her children. They [were] bringing [containers] to her, and she [kept] pouring.

It happened, when the containers were full, that she said to her son, "Bring me another container." He said to her, "There isn't another container." The oil stopped flowing.

Elisha came again to Gilgal. There was a famine in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his servant, "Set on the great pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets."

One went out to the field to gather herbs, and he found a {wild vine} and gathered wild gourds from it [and] filled his cloak. Then he came and cut them into the pot of stew, but they did not know [what they were].

So they poured out for the men to eat. It happened, as they were eating of the stew, that they cried out, and said, "Man of God, there is death in the pot!" They could not eat of it.

She said to her mistress, "I wish that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would heal him of his leprosy."

Meanwhile, the attendant to the man of God got up early in the morning and went outside, and there were the elite forces, surrounding the city, accompanied by horses and chariots! So Elisha's attendant cried out to him, "Oh no! Master! What will we do!?"

It happened, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, "Yahweh, open the eyes of these men, that they may see." Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw; and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.

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?"

Then the captain, the king’s right-hand man, responded to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?”

Elisha announced, “You will in fact see it with your own eyes, but you won’t eat any of it.”

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?

If we go into the city, we'll die of starvation, and if we stay here we'll die! So come on, let's defect to the Syrian camp! If they spare us, we'll live; if they kill us -- well, we were going to die anyway."

And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.

So the Arameans got up and ran away in the gathering darkness. They left behind their tents, horses, and donkeys just as they were and fled for their lives!

When they came, they called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, saying, "We came to the camp of [the] Arameans, and behold, there was no man or the voice of a man there! Only the horses and the donkeys were tied up, and the tents [were left] as they [were]."

Then arose the king by night, and said unto his servants, Let me tell you, I pray you, what the Syrians have done to us, - they knew that we were, famished, so they have gone forth out of the camp, to hide in the field, saying, When they come forth out of the city, then shall we take them alive, and, into the city, will we enter.

And one of his servants will answer and say, They shall take five of the horses remaining which were left in it, (behold them as all the multitude of Israel which were left in it: behold them as all the multitude of Israel which were finished:) and we will send and see.

And they went after them as far as Jordan; and all the road was covered with clothing and vessels dropped by the Aramaeans in their flight. So those who were sent went back and gave the news to the king.

this captain had answered the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” Elisha had said, “You will in fact see it with your own eyes, but you won’t eat any of it.”

So the woman got up and did as the man of God said; and she and the people of her house were living in the land of the Philistines for seven years.

And when the seven years were ended, the woman came back from the land of the Philistines and went to the king with a request for her house and her land.

And Jehoram went over to Zair, and all the chariots with him. And he rose by night and struck the Edomites who were all around him, and the commanders of the chariots. And the people fled into their tents.

He came, and look, the commanders of the army [were] sitting [there]. He said, "I have a word for you, O commander!" Jehu said, "For whom? For all of us?" And he said, "For you, O commander!"

So Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, made designs against Joram. (Now Joram and all the army of Israel were keeping watch on Ramoth-gilead because of Hazael, king of Aram:

And the watchman told, saying, "He came to them, but he cometh not again, and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he driveth as he were mad."

He said to Bidkar his third [servant], "Lift [him] out and throw him on the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, for remember, you and I [were] with the pair [of chariots] behind Ahab his father when Yahweh pronounced this oracle against him:

And he lifted up his eyes to the window and said, "Who is of my side? Who?" And there looked out to him two or three lords that were chamberlains.

Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria - unto the elders that were lords of Jezreel, and to them that nursed up Ahab's children - saying, "Now at the coming of these letters to you,

But they were very afraid, and they said, "Look, two kings could not stand before him; how can we stand?"

Then he wrote to them a second letter, saying, "If you [are] for me, and you [are] listening to my voice, take the heads of the men of the sons of your master and come to me at [this] time tomorrow at Jezreel." Now the sons of the king, seventy men, [were] with the leaders of the city who were raising them.

Now the king's sons, totaling 70 men, were living with the leading men of the city, who were their guardians. When the letter from Jehu arrived, the city leaders arrested the king's sons, slaughtered all 70 of them, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.

Then Jehu killed all who were left of Ahab's family in Jezreel, and all his nobles, close friends, and priests. He left no survivors.

He went to Samaria and exterminated all the members of Ahab's family who were still alive in Samaria, just as the Lord had announced to Elijah.

Then Jehu sent throughout all Israel. And all the servants of Baal came, that there was not a man left behind that came not. And when they were come into the temple of Baal, the temple was full from one end to another.

They brought out the pillars that were in the house of Baal, and burned them.

Only Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat [by] which he caused Israel to sin; [namely,] the calf-shaped idols of gold which [were in] Bethel and Dan.

Now the days which Jehu had reigned over Israel [were] twenty-eight years in Samaria.

But Jehosheba the daughter of King Joram and sister of Ahaziah took Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, and she stole him from among the sons of the king who were being put to death, [putting] him and his nurse in the inner bedroom. So they hid him from the presence of Athaliah, and he was not killed.

And the captains of the hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded; and they took every man his men, those that were to come in on the sabbath, with them that were to go forth on the sabbath, and they came to Jehoiada the priest.

Then the priest gave to the commanders of the hundreds spears and small round shields which [were] King David's, which [were] in the temple of Yahweh.

When Athaliah heard all of the commotion coming from those who were guarding the people, she approached the people who were in the LORD's Temple.

She looked, and there was the king standing by the pillar according to the custom. The commanders and the trumpeters [were] by the king, and all of the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing on the trumpets. Athaliah tore her clothes and she called, "Treason, treason!"

And Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds that were set over the host, and said to them, Lead her forth without the ranks; and whosoever follows her, slay with the sword; for the priest said, Let her not be put to death in the house of Jehovah.

Then all the people of the land went to the house of Baal and had it pulled down: its altars and images were all broken to bits, and Mattan, the priest of Baal, they put to death before the altars. And the priest put overseers over the Lord's house.

So all the people of the land were glad, and the town was quiet; and they had put Athaliah to death with the sword at the king's house.

Only the high places were not removed; the people [were] still making sacrifices and offering incense on the high places.

Jehoash spoke to the priests about all of the proceeds of the consecrated gifts that were being brought into the LORD's Temple, cash from every man who was traveling through the area, cash obtained by personal assessment, and all the cash that came through voluntary gifts into the LORD's Temple:

Then Jehoiada the priest took a certain chest and bored a hole in its lid, and he put it beside the altar to the right as a man enters into the temple of Yahweh; then the priests who were keepers of the threshold would put there all of the money brought into the temple.

They placed the money, [which was] weighed out, into the hands of the workers who were appointed over the temple of Yahweh, and they paid [it to] the skilled craftsmen of wood and [to] the builders working on the temple of Yahweh

Only, for the temple of Yahweh, there were not any silver basins, snuffers, bowls for drinking wine, trumpets, or any vessel of gold or silver from the money being brought [to] the temple of Yahweh.

because that money had been allocated to the workmen who were repairing the LORD's Temple.

They did not [have to] settle accounts with the men into whose hands they placed the money to give to the workers, for they [were] dealing honestly.

[The] money of [the] guilt offering and [the] money of [the] sin offering was not brought into the temple of Yahweh, but were [each] for the priests.

The Lord provided a deliverer for Israel and they were freed from Syria's power. The Israelites once more lived in security.

But there were left of the people, to Jehoahaz, but fifty horsemen and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen - for the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like threshed chaff.

And it happened that they [were] burying a man; suddenly they saw the marauding band, so they threw the man in the grave of Elisha. [As he] went [in], the man touched the bones of Elisha, and became alive and got up on his feet!

Only the high places were not removed; the people [were] still sacrificing and offering incense on the high places.

And he took all the gold and the silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the king's house, and hostages, and returned to Samaria.

A conspiracy was formed against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. However, men were sent after him to Lachish, and they put him to death there.

For the LORD had seen how that the affliction of Israel was exceeding bitter, in so much that the prisoned and the forsaken were at an end. And there was no helper unto Israel.

Only he did not remove the high places; the people [were] still sacrificing and burning incense on the high places.

At that time Menahem destroyed Tiphsah, all who [were] in it, and all its territory from Tirzah, because [it] had not opened [to him], so he destroyed it and ripped open all of its pregnant women.

And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, of all those who were wealthy, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land.

Pekah the son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him, so he attacked him in Samaria in the citadel fortress of [the] palace of the king, with Argob and Arieh. With him [also were] fifty men from the children of the Gileadites, and he killed him and became king in his place.

Only the high places were not removed; the people still [were] sacrificing and offering incense on the high places. He built the upper gate of the temple of Yahweh.

Then Rezin the king of Aram went up [with] Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel against Jerusalem for battle, and they besieged Ahaz but were not able to {defeat} him.

Then Ahaz took the silver and gold that were in the Lord's temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as tribute to the king of Assyria.

And he will burn his burnt-offering and his gift, and will pour out his libation, and sprinkle the blood of the peace, which were to him, upon the altar.

Then King Ahaz cut off the side panels of the water carts and removed from upon them the basin, and the sea he took down from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone base.

He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, only not as the kings of Israel who were before him.

This happened because the Israelis had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt and from the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, because they were fearing other gods,

and because they were following the rules of the nations whom the LORD had expelled before the Israelis and that the kings of Israel had practiced.

The {Israelites} secretly did things which [were] not right, against Yahweh their God; they built high places for themselves in all their towns, from the watchtower up to the fortified city.

and burned incense there, in all the high places, like the nations whom Yahweh drave out from before them, - and did things that were wicked, so as to provoke Yahweh to anger;

But they did not pay attention and were as stubborn as their ancestors, who had not trusted the Lord their God.

They rejected his statutes, his covenant which he {made} with their ancestors, and his warnings which he gave to them; and they went after the idols, became vain, and [went] after all the nations which [were] all around them, which Yahweh had commanded them not to do as they [did].

And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters in fire, and used witchcraft and enchantments, and were sold to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, for to anger him.

(But even Judah did not keep the orders of the Lord their God, but were guided by the rules which Israel had made.

It happened that when they began living there, they did not fear Yahweh, so Yahweh sent lions among them, and they were killing them.