Lexham English Bible

2 Kings 2:8-16 Lexham English Bible (LEB)

8. Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, and struck the water. It divided in two, and the two of them crossed over on dry land.

9. After they crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I may do for you before I am taken away from you.” Then Elisha said, “Please let there come to me a double portion of your spirit.”

10. He said, “What you ask is difficult. If you see me being taken from you, it will be so for you, but if not, it will not happen.”

11. Then they were walking, talking as they went. Suddenly a fiery chariot with horses of fire appeared and separated between the two of them. Elijah went up in the storm to the heavens

12. while Elisha was watching and crying out, “My father, my father; the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” But he could not see him any longer, and he grasped his clothes and tore them in two pieces.

13. Then he picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen off of him, and he returned and stood on the bank of the Jordan.

14. He took Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from upon him and struck the water. Then he said, “Where is Yahweh, the God of Elijah?” So he also struck the water, and it divided in two, and Elisha crossed over.

15. When the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him from the other side, they declared, “The spirit of Elijah rests upon Elisha,” and they came to meet him and bowed down to him to the ground.

16. Then they said to him, “Look, there are with your servants fifty able men. Please let them go and look for your master, lest the Spirit of Yahweh has lifted him up and thrown him on one of the mountains or into one of the valleys,” but he said, “You must not send them.”