16They said to him, "There are 50 strong men here with us. Please let them go and search for your master. Maybe the LORD's Spirit lifted him up and dropped him on one of the hills or in one of the valleys." Elisha answered, "Don't send them [to look]." 17But the disciples kept urging him [to send the men] until he was embarrassed. So he said, "Send them." They sent 50 men who searched for three days without finding him. 18They returned to Elisha in Jericho, where he was waiting. He said, "Didn't I tell you not to go?" 19The people of the city [of Jericho] told Elisha, "This city's location is as good as you will ever find. But the water is bad, and the land cannot grow crops." 20Elisha said, "Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it." They brought it to him. 21He went to the spring and threw the salt into it. Then he said, "This is what the LORD says: I have purified this water. No more deaths or crop failures will come from this water." 22To this day the water is still pure, as Elisha had said. 23From there he went to Bethel. As he walked along the road, some boys came out of the city and mocked him. They said, "Go away, baldy! Go away!" 24Looking back, he saw them and cursed them in the LORD's name. Two bears came out of the woods and tore 42 of these youths apart. 25He left that place, went to Mount Carmel, and returned to Samaria.
| 
