Daily Bread

¹² Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots^(A) and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore^(B) it in two.

¹³ Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴ He took the cloak^(C) that had fallen from Elijah and struck^(D) the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.

¹⁵ The company^(E) of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, “The spirit^(F) of Elijah is resting on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. ¹⁶ “Look,” they said, “we your servants have fifty able men. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit^(G) of the Lord has picked him up^(H) and set him down on some mountain or in some valley.”

“No,” Elisha replied, “do not send them.”

¹⁷ But they persisted until he was too embarrassed^(I) to refuse. So he said, “Send them.” And they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find him. ¹⁸ When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”

Healing of the Water

¹⁹ The people of the city said to Elisha, “Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive.”

²⁰ “Bring me a new bowl,” he said, “and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.

²¹ Then he went out to the spring and threw^(J) the salt into it, saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.’” ²² And the water has remained pure^(K) to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.

Elisha Is Jeered

²³ From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered^(L) at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” ²⁴ He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse^(M) on them in the name^(N) of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. ²⁵ And he went on to Mount Carmel^(O) and from there returned to Samaria.