16 "Look," they said. "We have 50 able men. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has lifted him up. Maybe he has put him down on a mountain or in a valley." "No," Elisha replied. "Don't send them."
17 But they kept asking until he felt he couldn't say no. So he said, "Send them." And they sent 50 men. They looked for Elijah for three days. But they didn't find him.
18 So they returned to Elisha. He was staying in Jericho. Elisha said to them, "Didn't I tell you not to go?"
19 The men of Jericho spoke to Elisha. "Look," they said. "This town has a good location. You can see that for yourself. But the spring of water here is bad. So the land doesn't produce anything."
20 "Bring me a new bowl," Elisha said. "Put some salt in it." So they brought it to him.
21 Then he went out to the spring. He threw the salt into it. He told them, "The Lord says, 'I have made this water pure. It will never cause death again. It will never keep the land from producing crops again.' "
22 The water has stayed pure to this very day. That's what Elisha had said would happen.