2 Kings 2 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

When Yahweh was about to take Elijah up to the sky in a windstorm, Elijah and Elisha were leaving Gilgal.

Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here — Yahweh has sent me to Bethel." But Elisha said, "As Yahweh lives, and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.

The prophets' apprentices at Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, "Do you know that Yahweh is going to take your master away from you today?" He said, "Yes, I know. Be quiet."

Then Elijah said to him, "Elisha, stay here — Yahweh has sent me to Jericho." But he said, "As Yahweh lives, and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went to Jericho.

The prophets' apprentices at Jericho came up to Elisha and said to him, "Do you know that Yahweh is going to take your master away from you today?" He answered, "Yes, I know. Be quiet."

Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here — Yahweh has sent me to the Jordan." But he said, "As Yahweh lives, and as you live, I will not leave you." So the two of them walked on.

Fifty men from the prophets' apprentices went and stood watching from a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan.

Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, and struck the water. The water split to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, "Ask me for something before I'm taken from you." Elisha said, "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit."

He said, "You've asked for something difficult. If you see me being taken from you, it will be yours. But if you don't see it, it won't."

As they kept walking and talking, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to the sky in a windstorm.

Elisha watched and cried out, "My father! My father! The chariots of Israel and its riders!" Then he couldn't see him anymore. He grabbed his own clothes and ripped them in two.

He picked up Elijah's cloak that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.

He took Elijah's cloak that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, "Where is Yahweh, the God of Elijah?" When he struck the water, it split to the right and to the left, and Elisha crossed over.

When the prophets' apprentices from Jericho saw him from across the water, they said, "The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha." They came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.

They said to him, "Look, your servants have fifty strong men. Let them go search for your master — maybe the spirit of Yahweh picked him up and dropped him on some mountain or in some valley." He said, "Don't send them."

But they kept pressing him until he was embarrassed to refuse, so he said, "Send them." They sent fifty men and searched for three days but didn't find him.

They came back to him while he was staying in Jericho. He said to them, "Didn't I tell you not to go?"

The men of the city said to Elisha, "Look, this city is in a good location, as my master can see, but the water is bad and the land is causing miscarriages."

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

He went out to the spring where the water came from and threw the salt into it, saying, "This is what Yahweh says: 'I have healed this water. It will no longer cause death or miscarriages.'"

The water has been pure ever since, just as Elisha said it would be.

From there he went up to Bethel. As he was walking up the road, some young men came out of the city and mocked him, saying, "Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!"

He turned around, looked at them, and pronounced a curse on them in the name of Yahweh. Then two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of them.

From there he went to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.