The Histories · Old Testament

2 Kings 2

2 Kings 2: Elijah taken up by a whirlwind and Elisha's first acts

General context

The narrator says at the outset that the Lord is about to take Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind. Elijah walks from Gilgal to Beth-el, Jericho and Jordan, three times asking Elisha to stay behind, and three times Elisha swears he will not leave him. At Beth-el and Jericho the sons of the prophets ask Elisha whether he knows his master will be taken that day, and he answers that he knows and tells them to keep silent. Fifty of them watch from a distance as Elijah strikes the Jordan with his mantle and the two cross on dry ground. Elisha asks for a double portion of Elijah's spirit; Elijah calls it a hard thing and makes it depend on whether Elisha sees him taken. A chariot and horses of fire part them, and Elijah goes up in a whirlwind. Elisha cries out, tears his clothes, takes up the fallen mantle, strikes the water with the question "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" and crosses back. The sons of the prophets bow to him, then press him until he allows a three-day search that finds nothing. At Jericho he heals the bad water with salt in a new cruse. On the way up to Beth-el children mock him as a bald head; he curses them in the name of the Lord, and two she bears tear forty-two of them. He goes on to Carmel and returns to Samaria.

Cited passages: 2 Kings 2:1, 2 Kings 2:2, 2 Kings 2:3, 2 Kings 2:6, 2 Kings 2:7, 2 Kings 2:8, 2 Kings 2:9, 2 Kings 2:10, 2 Kings 2:11, 2 Kings 2:12, 2 Kings 2:14, 2 Kings 2:15, 2 Kings 2:17, 2 Kings 2:20, 2 Kings 2:21, 2 Kings 2:23, 2 Kings 2:24, 2 Kings 2:25

2 Kings 2 (KJV)

¹And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.

²And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Beth-el. And Elisha said unto him, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Beth-el.

³And the sons of the prophets that were at Beth-el came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.

⁴And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho.

⁵And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.

⁶And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on.

⁷And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan.

⁸And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.

⁹And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.

¹⁰And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.

¹¹And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

¹²And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.

¹³He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan;

¹⁴And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.

¹⁵And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.

¹⁶And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure the Spirit of the Lord hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send.

¹⁷And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not.

¹⁸And when they came again to him, (for he tarried at Jericho,) he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not?

¹⁹And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren.

²⁰And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.

²¹And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.

²²So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.

²³And he went up from thence unto Beth-el: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.

²⁴And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

²⁵And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The narrator announces the outcome in the first verse, so the sons of the prophets' questions confirm what the reader already knows. The route is given as Gilgal, Beth-el, Jericho and Jordan, then back through Jericho and Beth-el to Carmel and Samaria; the text gives no distances. The request for "a double portion of thy spirit" is Elisha's own wording, and the chapter does not define it; Elijah's answer ties it to seeing, and the narrator then records that "Elisha saw it". The sons of the prophets suggest the Spirit of the Lord may have cast Elijah on a mountain or in a valley, but the narrator has already stated that he "went up by a whirlwind into heaven", and the search finds nothing. Elisha's cry "the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof" is spoken again by King Joash over the dying Elisha in 2 Kings 13:14. The mockers are called "little children" who come out of the city as Elisha goes up to Beth-el; the narrator says the bears "tare forty and two children of them" and gives no further detail about their ages or whether they died. The healed waters are said to remain so "unto this day", a phrase that marks the narrator's own time without dating it.

Cited passages: 2 Kings 2:1, 2 Kings 2:5, 2 Kings 2:4, 2 Kings 2:18, 2 Kings 2:23, 2 Kings 2:25, 2 Kings 2:9, 2 Kings 2:10, 2 Kings 2:12, 2 Kings 2:16, 2 Kings 2:11, 2 Kings 2:17, 2 Kings 13:14, 2 Kings 2:24, 2 Kings 2:22

Literary context

The first half is built on a threefold exchange: Elijah says "Tarry here" and Elisha answers with the same oath each time, while the sons of the prophets twice ask the same question and receive the same reply. Elijah's mantle parts the water, and after the whirlwind Elisha uses the same mantle with a question in place of Elijah's silence; the parting waters answer him. The onlookers then say what the reader has been shown, that Elijah's spirit rests on Elisha, and bow. The search episode sets Elisha's certainty against their insistence, ending with his "Did I not say unto you, Go not?" Two short acts close the chapter and pull in opposite directions: at Jericho his word removes death and barrenness from the water, and near Beth-el his curse brings bears out of the wood. The narrator records both without comment and ends with a bare itinerary to Carmel and Samaria. Elisha's return journey passes back through Jericho and Beth-el, towns Elijah led him through.

Cited passages: 2 Kings 2:2, 2 Kings 2:4, 2 Kings 2:6, 2 Kings 2:3, 2 Kings 2:5, 2 Kings 2:8, 2 Kings 2:14, 2 Kings 2:15, 2 Kings 2:16, 2 Kings 2:17, 2 Kings 2:18, 2 Kings 2:21, 2 Kings 2:24, 2 Kings 2:25

Key moments

Elisha refuses to stay behind (2 Kings 2:2). Elijah asks him to tarry, and Elisha swears by the Lord that he will not leave him.
The Jordan parted by the mantle (2 Kings 2:8). Elijah wraps his mantle, strikes the water, and the two cross on dry ground.
A double portion requested (2 Kings 2:9). Elisha asks for a double portion of Elijah's spirit.
Elijah taken up in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11). A chariot and horses of fire part them, and Elijah goes up into heaven.
Where is the Lord God of Elijah? (2 Kings 2:14). Elisha strikes the water with the fallen mantle, and it parts for him.
Jericho's waters healed (2 Kings 2:21). Elisha casts salt into the spring and declares the waters healed.
Bears at Beth-el (2 Kings 2:24). After children mock him, Elisha curses them and two she bears tear forty-two of them.

For reflection

The chapter sets the healing of Jericho's water beside the bears at Beth-el, with no comment from the narrator on either. What does it ask of a reader to hold both of Elisha's first acts in view at once?