Elijah Denounces Ahaziah
After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel. Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber and lay sick. He sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, as to whether he would recover from his sickness.
But the angel of the Lord went to Elijah and told him to go and meet the messengers. He was to tell them that because Ahaziah sought guidance not of the Lord, he would not come down from the bed, but would surely die.
They returned to the king and told him what Elijah had said. Then the king sent out fifty men and went to Elijah who was sitting on the top of a hill. They told him to go down to the king. But Elijah answered them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” With that, fire came down and consumed them.
Again the king sent to him another captain of fifty men and the exact same thing happened. The third group to go to Elijah bowed down to him and asked to be spared. Then the angel of the Lord told Elijah to go down with them and not to be afraid.
Elijah went and spoke to the king telling him everything the messengers already had: “because he had sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron–is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word?–therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.”
So he died according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken. Jehoram, became king in his place because Ahaziah had no son.
Elijah Taken to Heaven
When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven, Elijah and Elisha were on their way to Gilgal. Elijah asked Elisha to stay there, but he refused; “As the Lord lives, and you yourself live, I will not leave you.”
So they went to Bethel. While they were there, the sons of the prophets told Elisha that Elijah was about to be taken by the Lord. Again Elijah asked him to stay there, but Elisha refused.
Then they went to Jericho and the same thing happened. Then they went to the Jordan. There Elijah took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water. The water was parted and the two men crossed on dry ground.
Elijah asked Elisha what he could do for him before he was taken from him. Elisha asked for a double portion of his spirit to go onto him. Elijah said that if Elisha saw him when he was being taken it would be so, but if he didn’t see him, it wouldn’t.
As they went on walking, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha saw it and cried, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more.
Then he took hold of his clothes and tore them in two pieces. Then he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.
Then he took the cloak and did as Elijah had done, and struck the water saying, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” And when he had struck the water, the water was parted and Elisha went over.
Elisha Succeeds Elijah
When the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him they said that the spirit of Elijah rested on Elisha. They came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.
The men of the city told Elisha that the situation of the city was pleasant as the lord sees, but the water was bad and the land was unfruitful. He told them to bring him a bowl of salt, and they did.
Then he went to the spring and threw the salt in it and said, “Thus says the Lord, I have healed this water, from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.”
When he was on his way to Bethel, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up you baldhead!” Elisha turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.
From there he went on to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.