Elisha takes over from Elijah 2 Kings 2:1-18

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1 A long time ago, in the

land of Israel, there lived
two prophets of God -
Elijah and Elisha. The
two prophets were on
their way to Gilgal.
Elijah, after many years
of faithful service, had
been told by God that he
was about to be taken
up into heaven and was
enjoying his last few
hours with his friend
Elisha.

2 ‘The Lord told me I am

to go into heaven in a
whirlwind,’ Elijah
explained.
‘A whirlwind!” exclaimed
Elisha. ‘I will not leave
you.’
Elijah thought about this
and decided to test his
friend. He said, ‘You stay
here at Gilgal and I'll
walk on, to Bethel.’

3 ‘Oh, no,’ said Elisha, ‘I'm

coming with you! As the
Lord lives and as you
live, I will not leave you!’
So they walked from
Gilgal all the way to
another town called
Bethel. When they got
there, a crowd of young
prophets came to meet
them.
4 ‘Elisha,’ they said, ‘the
Lord is going to take
your master away from
you today.’
‘I know,’ said Elisha,
‘Please don't talk about
it.’
Then Elijah said, ‘Now,
my friend, you stay here
at Bethel while I go on to
Jericho.’
But Elisha wouldn't be
put off. ‘I'm coming with
you,’ he said.

5 When they got to

Jericho, another crowd of
young prophets came to
meet them, and they
told Elisha the same
thing - that Elijah was
going to be taken away
that very day. ‘I know,’
said Elisha, ‘Please don't
talk about it.’

6 Elijah decided to test

Elisha a bit more. ‘I'm
going to Jordan now,’ he
said.
Elisha said, ‘As the Lord
lives, and as you live,
I'm not going to leave
your side!’ So away they
went, and finally they
reached the bank of the
Jordan river.

7 They stood beside the

river for a while. Elisha
looked at the deep,
flowing water and
wondered what Elijah
was going to do. Were
they going to have to
swim across? But Elijah
had no worries. He knew
what he was about to
do. He slipped his
mantle off his shoulders
…
8 Elijah twirled his mantle
into a rope and thumped
it down on the water of
the river. Immediately,
the water sprang back
and split into two parts,
leaving a nice dry path
right across the
riverbed. The two men
walked across without
getting their feet wet.

9 Elijah was satisfied now.

He had been testing
Elisha to see how keen
he was. Three times he
had tried to put him off
but Elisha had stuck
close by. Elijah now
turned to Elisha and
said, ‘Tell me, what can I
give to you before I die?’

10 Elisha knew
straightaway what he
wanted.
‘Give me a double
portion of your spirit!’ he
said. ‘Make me your
son!’
Elijah was thrilled at his
friend's attitude. ‘If you
see me die,’ he said,
‘then you will be my son.
But if not, then I cannot
give you what you ask.’

11 Suddenly, a mighty wind

began to blow, and high
in the sky a chariot and
horses appeared! They
came nearer and nearer,
and now Elisha could
see flames coming from
the horses. And a fire
crackled and burned
around the chariot! The
wind blew harder and
harder and Elisha
gasped as the fearful
sight came closer.
12 Eventually, the wind was
too fierce, and Elisha
staggered away. He was
terrified! He shielded his
face from the blazing,
fiery vision, and fell to
the ground. The chariot
roared even closer, and
swept between him and
Elijah. Then the wind
began to whip around
Elijah, tugging harder
and harder at him.

13 Then, with a final roar,

the wind lifted Elijah
right off the ground and
carried him higher and
higher into the sky!
Elisha watched as Elijah
went up and up, until
Elijah was nothing but a
tiny dot. And then he
was so far away he
disappeared. Elisha was
very sad. ‘There goes
my father!’ he cried. ‘He
was like an army to
Israel … but now he's
gone!’

14 But something fell from

the sky and landed on
the ground. Elisha ran to
pick it up. ‘The mantle!’
he shouted. ‘I really am
Elijah's son! The Lord
has let him adopt me!
Praise God!’

15 Elisha was thrilled! Not

only was he now Elijah's
son, but he was also the
new prophet of the Lord!
This was a tremendous
blessing! He ran and
skipped joyfully all the
way back to the Jordan
river.
16 When he arrived at the
river, he rolled up the
mantle, just as Elijah
had done and struck the
water with it.‘Where is
the God of Elijah?’ he
shouted. Immediately,
the water rolled back
and made a dry path
from bank to bank.
Elisha ran across.

17 The young prophets

came to meet Elisha as
he walked into Jericho.
They already knew
about how Elijah had
gone up into the sky in
the great wind. ‘Where
is Elijah?’ they asked.
‘Let us send 50 strong
men to go and look for
him . . . he may have
come down
somewhere!’ ‘Don't
waste your time,’ said
Elisha, ‘he's gone to
heaven!’

18 But the young prophets

were sure that Elijah
must have dropped out
of the sky somewhere.
So they pestered and
pestered Elisha until he
finally said, "Ok, go and
look for him if you must,
but don't blame me if
you find nothing!" Off
went the searchers, and
they looked everywhere
… but of course they
didn't find Elijah.

19 You see, when a prophet

of the Lord speaks, his
words are to be trusted.
Don't you be like the
silly young prophets,
who went searching for
something that wasn't
there. Trust what the
Bible says, and do what
Jesus, the great Son of
God, tells you to do. If
you listen to Him, you
can never go wrong.
20