2 Raja-raja 2:14-15

2:14 He took the cloak that had fallen off Elijah, ¹  hit the water with it, and said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” When he hit the water, it divided and Elisha crossed over.

2:15 When the members of the prophetic guild in Jericho, ²  who were standing at a distance, ³  saw him do this, they said, “The spirit that energized Elijah ⁴  rests upon Elisha.” They went to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him.

2 Raja-raja 2:21

2:21 He went out to the spring and threw the salt in. Then he said, “This is what the Lord says, ‘I have purified ⁵  this water. It will no longer cause death or fail to produce crops.” ⁶ 

2 Raja-raja 2:24

2:24 When he turned around and saw them, he called God’s judgment down on them. ⁷  Two female bears came out of the woods and ripped forty-two of the boys to pieces.

2 Raja-raja 2:1

Elijah Makes a Swift Departure

2:1 Just before ⁸  the Lord took Elijah up to heaven in a windstorm, Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal.

1 Samuel 3:19-21

3:19 Samuel continued to grow, and the Lord was with him. None of his prophecies fell to the ground unfulfilled. ⁹  3:20 All Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba realized that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. 3:21 Then the Lord again appeared in Shiloh, for it was in Shiloh that the Lord had revealed himself to Samuel ¹⁰  through the word of the Lord. ¹¹ 

[2:14]  ¹ tn Heb “Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen off him.” The wording is changed slightly in the translation for the sake of variety of expression (see v. 13).

[2:15]  ² map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[2:15]  ³ tn Heb “and the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho, [who were standing] opposite, saw him and said.”

[2:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “the spirit of Elijah.”

[2:21]  ⁵ tn Or “healed.”

[2:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “there will no longer be from there death and miscarriage [or, ‘barrenness’].”

[2:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “he cursed them in the name of the Lord.” A curse was a formal appeal to a higher authority (here the Lord) to vindicate one’s cause through judgment. As in chapter one, this account makes it clear that disrespect for the Lord’s designated spokesmen can be deadly, for it is ultimately rejection of the Lord’s authority.

[2:1]  ⁸ tn Or “when.”

[3:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he did not cause to fall from all his words to the ground.”

[3:21]  ¹⁰ tc The LXX has a lengthy addition here: “And Samuel was acknowledged to be a prophet of the Lord in all Israel, from one end to the other. Eli was very old and, as for his sons, their way kept getting worse and worse before the Lord.” The Hebraic nature of the Greek syntax used here suggests that the LXX translator was accurately rendering a Hebrew variant and not simply expanding the text on his own initiative.

[3:21]  ¹¹ tn The chapter division at this point is inappropriate. 1 Sam 4:1a is best understood as the conclusion to chap. 3 rather than the beginning of chap. 4.