Elijah Taken Up to Heaven

2 When the Lord was about to take^(A) Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind,^(B) Elijah and Elisha^(C) were on their way from Gilgal.^{(D) 2} Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here;^(E) 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.”^(F) So they went down to Bethel.

⁶ Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here;^(A) the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.”^(B)

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

⁷ Fifty 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. ⁸ Elijah took his cloak,^(D) rolled it up and struck^(E) the water with it. The water divided^(F) to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry^(G) ground.

⁹ When 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^(H) portion of your spirit,”^(I) 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.”

¹¹ As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire^(J) and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven^(K) in a whirlwind.^{(L) 12} Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots^(M) and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore^(N) it in two.

¹³ Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴ He took the cloak^(O) that had fallen from Elijah and struck^(P) the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.

Samaritan Opposition

⁵¹ As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven,^(A) Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.^{(B) 52} And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan^(C) village to get things ready for him; ⁵³ but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ When the disciples James and John^(D) saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them^[a]?”^{(E) 55} But Jesus turned and rebuked them. ⁵⁶ Then he and his disciples went to another village.

The Cost of Following Jesus^(F)

⁵⁷ As they were walking along the road,^(G) a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

⁵⁸ Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man^(H) has no place to lay his head.”

⁵⁹ He said to another man, “Follow me.”^(I)

But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

⁶⁰ Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”^(J)

⁶¹ Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”^(K)

⁶² Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”