The Bible in Basic English BBE
New International Version NIV
16 And they said, Your servants have with us here fifty strong men; be pleased to let them go in search of Elijah; for it may be that the spirit of the Lord has taken him up and put him down on some mountain or in some valley. But he said, Do not send them.
16
“Look,” they said, “we your servants have fifty able men. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has picked him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley.” “No,” Elisha replied, “do not send them.”
17 But when they kept on requesting him, he was shamed and said, Send, then. So they sent fifty men; but after searching for three days, they came back without having seen him.
17
But they persisted until he was too embarrassed to refuse. So he said, “Send them.” And they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find him.
18 And they came back to him, while he was still at Jericho; and he said to them, Did I not say to you, Go not?
18
When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”
19 Now the men of the town said to Elisha, You see that the position of this town is good; but the water is bad, causing the young of the cattle to come to birth dead.
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 So he said, Get me a new vessel, and put salt in it; and they took it to him.
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 from which the water came, and put salt in it, and said, The Lord says, Now I have made this water sweet; no longer will it be death-giving or unfertile.
21
Then he went out to the spring and threw 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 was made sweet again to this day, as Elisha said.
22
And the water has remained pure to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.
23 Then from there he went up to Beth-el; and on his way, some little boys came out from the town and made sport of him, crying, Go up, old no-hair! go up, old no-hair!
23
From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!”
24 And turning back, he saw them, and put a curse on them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the wood and put forty-two of the children to death.
24
He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.
25 From there he went to Mount Carmel, and came back from there to Samaria.
25
And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.