2 Kings 2:1–11

Elijah Taken Up to Heaven

2When the Lord was about to take^v Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind,^w Elijah and Elisha^x were on their way from Gilgal.^{y 2}Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here;^z the Lord has sent me to Bethel.”

But Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.”^a So they went down to Bethel.

³The company^b of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, “Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?”

“Yes, I know,” Elisha replied, “so be quiet.”

⁴Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me to Jericho.^c”

And he replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho.

⁵The company^d of the prophets at Jericho went up to Elisha and asked him, “Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?”

“Yes, I know,” he replied, “so be quiet.”

⁶Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here;^e the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.”^f

And he replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.”^g So the two of them walked on.

⁷Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. ⁸Elijah took his cloak,^h rolled it up and struckⁱ the water with it. The water divided^j to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry^k ground.

⁹When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”

“Let me inherit a double^l portion of your spirit,”^m Elisha replied.

¹⁰“You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”

¹¹As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fireⁿ and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven^o in a whirlwind.^p