¹And it came to pass, when the Lord would take Elijah up to heaven in a storm, that Elijah was walking with Elisha from Gilgal. ²And Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here please, for the Lord has sent me to Beth-El.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I certainly will not leave you.” So they both went down to Beth-El. ³And the sons of the prophets who were in Beth-El came out to Elisha and said to him, “Are you aware that the Lord is about to take your master away from your company today?” And he said, “I am well aware of it; you keep quiet.” ⁴Then Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I certainly will not leave you.” So they both went to Jericho. ⁵And the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho approached Elisha and said to him, “Are you aware that the Lord is about to take your master away from your company today?” And he said, “I am well aware of it; you keep quiet.” ⁶Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I certainly will not leave you.” So they both went there. ⁷And fifty men from the sons of the prophets went out and stood opposite them from a distance, while the two of them stood at the Jordan. ⁸Then Elijah took his cloak and folded it up and struck the water with it, and it parted this way and that way, and the two of them crossed on dry land. ⁹And it came to pass, as they were crossing, that Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I should do for you before I am taken away from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be twice your spirit in me.” ¹⁰Then he said, “You have made a weighty request. If you see me being taken away from you, it will be so for you. But if not, it will not come to pass.” ¹¹And it came to pass as they were walking and talking that a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared, and they divided the two of them, and Elijah ascended to heaven in the storm. ¹²And Elisha was watching, and shouting, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen” when he no longer saw him. And he took hold of his clothes and tore them in half. ¹³And he picked up Elijah's cloak which fell off him, and he returned and stood on the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴And he took Elijah's cloak which had fallen off him, and he struck the water, and he said, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah? And the man himself?” And he struck the water, and it parted this way and that way, and Elisha crossed over. ¹⁵And the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho, opposite, saw him and said, “The spirit of Elijah has rested on Elisha.” Then they came to meet him, and they prostrated themselves to him on the ground. ¹⁶And they said to him, “Look now, with your servants there are fifty men – soldiers. Please let them go and seek your master, in case some wind from the Lord has carried him away and deposited him on one of the mountains or in one of the valleys.” And he said, “Do not send them.” ¹⁷But they pressed him to an embarrassing extent, and he said, “Send them.” So they sent fifty men, and they searched for three days, but they did not find him. ¹⁸And when they returned to him, he was staying in Jericho, and he said to them, “Did I not say to you, ‘Don't go’?” ¹⁹Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Now you see that the housing in the city is good, as my lord can see, but the water is bad, and the ground is barren.” ²⁰And he said, “Fetch me a new plate, and put salt on it.” So they fetched him that. ²¹Then he went out to the water-source, and he cast the salt there and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I will make this water wholesome – there will no longer be death and barren ground from it.’ ” ²²And the water was made wholesome, as it has been up to this day, according to the words of Elisha which he spoke. ²³Then he went up from there to Beth-El, and as he was going up on the road, some small boys came out of the city and mocked him and said to him, “Up you go, bald man, up you go, bald man.” ²⁴And he turned round, and he saw them, and he cursed them in the name of the Lord, and two bears came out of the wood and tore them apart – forty-two children. ²⁵And he went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.