17. But when they urged him till he was embarrassed, he said, Send. So they sent fifty men, who sought for three days but did not find him.
18. When they returned to Elisha, who had waited at Jericho, he said to them, Did I not tell you, Do not go?
19. And the men of the city said to Elisha, Behold, inhabiting of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad and the locality causes miscarriage and barrenness [in all animals].
20. He said, Bring me a new bowl and put salt [the symbol of God's purifying power] in it. And they brought it to him.
21. Then Elisha went to the spring of the waters and cast the salt in it and said, Thus says the Lord: I [not the salt] have healed these waters; there shall not be any more death, miscarriage or barrenness [and bereavement] because of it.
22. So the waters were healed to this day, as Elisha had said.
23. He went up from Jericho to Bethel. On the way, young [maturing and accountable] boys came out of the city and mocked him and said to him, Go up [in a whirlwind], you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!