Elijah Taken Up to Heaven
Shortly before the LORD took Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal, Gen 5:24Heb 11:51Ki 19:16-211Ki 19:11Jos 4:19Jos 5:91Ki 18:121Ki 19:4 and Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me on to Bethel.” 2Ki 2:62Ki 4:30Rut 1:15-181Sa 1:262Ki 2:42Sa 15:19-21Jhn 6:67-681Ki 12:33
But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”
So they went down to Bethel.
Then the sons of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the LORD will take your master away from you today?” 2Ki 4:12Ki 4:381Ki 20:352Ki 9:11Ki 18:41Sa 10:10-121Sa 19:202Ki 2:15
“Yes, I know,” he replied. “Do not speak of it.”
And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me on to Jericho.” 2Ki 2:2Jos 6:261Ki 16:342Ki 4:30Luk 19:1Act 11:23Act 2:42
But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”
So they went to Jericho.
Then the sons of the prophets at Jericho came up to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the LORD will take your master away from you today?” 2Ki 2:3Act 1:11Act 1:2Ecc 3:7Gen 48:19Hab 2:20Isa 41:1Jhn 17:5-7
“Yes, I know,” he replied. “Do not speak of it.”
And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me on to the Jordan.” 2Ki 2:2Jos 3:15
But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”
So the two of them went on.
Then a company of fifty of the sons of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing Elijah and Elisha as the two of them stood by the Jordan. 1Ki 18:131Ki 18:42Ki 2:17 And Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, and struck the waters, which parted to the right and to the left, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground. 1Ki 19:19Exo 14:21-22Jos 3:14-172Ki 2:141Ki 19:13Heb 11:29Isa 11:15Psa 114:5-7
After they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken away from you?” Num 11:17Deu 21:17Jhn 16:7Act 20:25-36Act 1:8Act 8:17Num 11:25Zec 12:8
“Please, let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.
“You have requested a difficult thing,” said Elijah. “Nevertheless, if you see me as I am taken from you, it will be yours. But if not, then it will not be so.” Jhn 16:24Mrk 11:22-242Ki 2:12Act 1:9-10
As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire with horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up into heaven in a whirlwind. 2Ki 6:17Psa 104:3-4Heb 1:14Psa 68:17Ezk 1:4-28Ezk 10:9-22Hab 3:8Mrk 16:19
As Elisha watched, he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And he saw Elijah no more. So taking hold of his own clothes, he tore them in two. 2Ki 13:142Co 5:22Co 5:4Act 1:9Act 8:2Eph 4:8Isa 37:15Isa 37:21
Elisha also picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah, and he went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 1Ki 19:192Ki 2:81Ki 9:26 Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the waters. “Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” he asked. Jhn 14:12Psa 42:10Psa 115:2Act 3:12-13Jos 1:1-92Ki 2:8-10Act 2:33Jdg 6:13
And when he had struck the waters, they parted to the right and to the left, and Elisha crossed over.
Elisha Succeeds Elijah
When the sons of the prophets who were facing him from Jericho saw what had happened, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him. 1Pe 4:14Act 1:82Co 12:92Ki 2:192Ki 2:72Ki 4:1-42Ki 4:372Ki 6:1-7
“Look now,” they said to Elisha, “we your servants have fifty valiant men. Please let them go and search for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up and put him on one of the mountains or in one of the valleys.” 1Ki 18:12Act 8:392Co 12:2-3Ezk 11:24Ezk 3:14Ezk 40:2Ezk 8:3
“Do not send them,” Elisha replied.
But when they pressed him to the point of embarrassment, he said, “Send them.” 2Ki 8:112Sa 18:22-23Heb 11:5Luk 11:8Rom 10:2
And they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find Elijah.
When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”
Elisha Heals the Waters of Jericho
Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Please note, our lord, that the city’s location is good, as you can see. But the water is bad and the land is unfruitful.” Deu 28:2-4Exo 23:26Deu 28:11Deu 28:15-181Ki 16:34Exo 15:23Exo 7:19Num 12:11
“Bring me a new bowl,” he replied, “and put some salt in it.” Jdg 9:45Zep 2:9Ezk 47:11
So they brought it to him, and Elisha went out to the spring, cast the salt into it, and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘I have healed this water. No longer will it cause death or unfruitfulness. 1’” Exo 15:25-262Ki 4:41Lev 2:132Ki 6:6Rev 21:4Rev 22:2-3Jhn 9:6Mrk 9:50
And the waters there have been healthy to this day, according to the word spoken by Elisha.
Elisha Mocked
From there, Elisha went up to Bethel, and as he was walking up the road, a group of boys 2came out of the city and jeered at him, chanting, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” 2Ch 36:16Job 19:18Job 30:1Amo 5:5Gen 21:9Pro 22:6Psa 31:181Ki 12:28-32
Then he turned around, looked at them, and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Act 13:9-11Act 5:5Act 5:9Amo 7:17Hos 13:81Ki 13:241Ki 19:171Ki 20:36
Suddenly two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.
And Elisha went on to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria. 2Ki 4:251Ki 18:19-201Ki 18:42