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

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

3 And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel 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.

4 And 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.

5 And 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.

6 And 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.

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

8 And 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.

9 And 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.

10 And 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.

11 And 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.

12 And 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.

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

14 And 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.

15 And 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.

16 And 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.

17 And 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.

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

19 And 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.

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

21 And 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.

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

23 And he went up from thence unto Bethel: 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.

24 And 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.

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

<html><b>In a mighty wind.</b> In a stormy wind.¹<i class=“footnote”>See Yechezkeil 1:4, where a “רוּחַ סְעָרָה” is part of the vision of the מַעֲשֶׂה מֶרְכָּבָה that is described by Yechezkeil.</i></html>

<html><b>Please remain here.</b> He [Eliyahu] wished to drive him away because of his humility, so that he [Elisha] would not see him being taken away.²<i class=“footnote”>Alternatively, he did not want Elisha to be frightened by seeing the manner by which he was being taken away.—Ralbag</i></html>

<html><b>Your master.</b> But [Scripture does] not [state,] “our master.” This teaches [us] that they were equal to Eliyahu.³<i class=“footnote”>I.e., their level of prophecy was equal to Eliyahu’s. Tosefta Maseches Sotah 12:5.</i></html>

<html><b>And [he] rolled it up.</b> He rolled it up in order that it would be easy to strike with it. <b>And [he] rolled it up.</b> Not exactly rolling, but gathering together,⁴<i class=“footnote”>I.e., he did not fold it neatly on its creases, but he bunched it up together.</i> which is called <i>cueilir</i>, in O.F.</html>

<html><b>You have made a difficult request.</b> It is impossible [for me] to give you more than I possess.⁵<i class=“footnote”>According to Rashi, Elisha apparently asked for a double portion of Eliyahu’s spirit. Alternatively, Elisha requested to attain two thirds of Eliyahu’s spirit and for all other prophets together to attain one third. -Radak Or, Elisha requested double the spirit of any other prophet.—Ralbag</i> <b>If you will witness my departure from you.</b> Then I will be able to do more and more.⁶<i class=“footnote”>I.e., if you are spiritually elevated enough to observe my ascent, it would be an indication that your request would be granted.</i> <b>It will be so for you, and if not, it will not be.</b> That I am unable [to do so].</html>

<html><b>My father, my father! Chariot of Yisroel.</b> My endeared teacher⁷<i class=“footnote”>He referred to Eliyahu as “father,” because one’s disciples are considered like one’s own children, and conversely, the teacher is considered a father.—Ralbag See Rashi in Devarim 6:7.</i> who is better for Yisroel with his prayers than chariots and horsemen.⁸<i class=“footnote”>I.e., his prayers are more effective for Yisroel than chariots and horsemen.—Targum</i></html>

<html><b>Where is Adonoy, the God of Eliyahu?</b> That I was promised that a double portion of his spirit would rest upon me.⁹<i class=“footnote”>Alternatively, where is God who does not show me His sign as He showed Eliyahu is the splitting of the water?”—Ralbag</i> <b>Then he also struck the water.</b> He too. In the Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer, son of Rabbi Yose Haglili, [it states that] Elisha’s splitting [the Yardein] was twice as great as Eliyahu’s, for in the beginning there was the merit of them both, and now there was his merit alone.¹⁰<i class=“footnote”>See Rashi 3:1 below. Thus, Elisha’s request for twice Eliyahu’s spirit had been fulfilled.</i></html>

<html><b>Perhaps the wind of Adonoy carried him up.</b> Is it possible that yesterday they said to him, “Do you know that today Adonoy is taking your master?”¹¹<i class=“footnote”>Above, v. 5.</i> and now they did not know where he was?¹²<i class=“footnote”>They thought Eliyahu’s spirit returned to God, but his body was cast to the ground, and they sought to find it and bury it.—Metzudas Dovid</i> This teaches [us] that since the day when Eliyahu was hidden,¹³<i class=“footnote”>Some say that Eliyahu’s body remained whole and unharmed. He was carried to גַּן עֵדֶן where he remains hidden from mankind except when he is sent on special missions or to appear to the righteous. Radak Alternatively, they did not know that he would be removed from the world. Rather, they thought that God would take Eliyahu away to some remote location for a period of time. This was not an unusual occurrence. See I Melochim 18:12.</i> the Holy Spirit departed from the prophets, and the Holy Spirit was no longer widespread throughout Yisroel.¹⁴<i class=“footnote”>See Tosefta Maseches Sotah 12:5.</i></html>

<html><b>Until he was ashamed.</b> He was ashamed¹⁵<i class=“footnote”>I.e., “to the point of embarrassment.” The root of בש is בוש [=shame].</i> [on account] of them, lest they say that he does not want to go to meet his teacher.¹⁶<i class=“footnote”>I.e., he was afraid that they would think that he wanted Eliyahu to stay away so that he could keep his newly acquired position of leadership. Alternatively, the root of בש is בשש [=delay], i.e., “he delayed them considerably” from sending out people to search for Eliyahu. -Metzudas Dovid Also, see below 8:11 and Shemos 32:1.</i> Because he took over his high position, he does not want him to return. All this I saw in Tosefta of [Maseches] Sotah.¹⁷<i class=“footnote”>12:5.</i></html>

<html><b>But the water is bad.</b> And because of the water, the land causes people to die, and send them to their graves. If so, what is the meaning of, “the city is a good place to live”?¹⁸<i class=“footnote”>Above, at the beginning of this verse.</i> From here [we learn] that a place’s charm is perceived by its inhabitants.¹⁹<i class=“footnote”>Maseches Sotah 47a. Rabbi Yochonon said that there are three types of charm. 1. The charm a place that is perceived by its inhabitants. 2. The charm a woman holds for her husband. 3. The charm of a newly purchased item for its buyer.</i></html>

<html><b>To the source of the water.</b> From where the water flowed. <b>And threw salt there.</b> Now is not salt a thing that spoils water? This was a miracle within a miracle.²⁰<i class=“footnote”>This miracle was similar to the one performed by Moshe in Marah. After traveling through the wilderness for three days without water, the Bnei Yisroel finally came to a spring only to find the water undrinkably bitter. Moshe threw a tree whose wood was bitter into the water and the water became sweet and drinkable. See Shemos 15:22-26.—Radak</i></html>

<html><b>Little boys.</b> Void of <i>mitzvos</i>.²¹<i class=“footnote”>The literal meaning of נְעָרִים קְטַנִּים is “small children,” but obviously this is not the true meaning, because Elisha would never have cursed small children. The word נְעָרִים can also be interpreted as נְעוּרִים [=shaken out or empty] from good deeds. The word קטנים [=little] alludes to how small their faith was. Nonetheless, Elisha was punished for treating them so harshly. See Maseches Sotah 47a. Radak Alternatively, the boys came from a town called נַעֲרָן, which is mentioned in I Divrei Hayomim 7:28 and in Yehoshua 16:7. See below, 5:2.</i> <b>“Go away, baldy!”</b> “Go away from here, for you have made the place bald for us, [i.e.,] for until now we would be hired to bring sweet water from a distance, and we would earn our livelihood thereby.” But when [the water] became sweet, they lost their livelihood. Thus it is explained in [Maseches] Sotah.²²<i class=“footnote”>46b, and see Rashi there.</i></html>

<html><b>And saw them.</b> He saw that neither in them nor in their descendants would there be any sap of good deed.²³<i class=“footnote”>See Shemos 2:12 and Rashi there.</i>²⁴<i class=“footnote”>Some say that Elisha saw that their hair was cut in the style of the heathens. He believed that they were degenerate and depraved and foresaw that they would never return to the ways of the Torah. See Maseches Sotah 46b. </i></html>