The king ¹  sent another captain and his fifty soldiers to retrieve Elijah. He went up and told him, ²  “Prophet, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!’” ³ 

Elijah ¹  replied, “That’s a difficult request! ²  If you see me taken from you, may it be so, but if you don’t, it will not happen.”

The fifty members of the prophetic guild went and stood opposite them at a distance, while Elijah and Elisha ¹  stood by the Jordan.

He said to her, “Hand me your son.” He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him down on his bed.

The seventh time the servant ¹  said, “Look, a small cloud, the size of the palm of a man’s hand, is rising up from the sea.” Elijah ²  then said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up the chariots and go down, so that the rain won’t overtake you.’” ³ 

Elijah ¹  said to the king, ²  “This is what the Lord says, ‘You sent messengers to seek an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. You must think there is no God in Israel from whom you can seek an oracle! ³  Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.’” ⁴ 

So he did ¹  as the Lord told him; he went and lived in the Kerith Valley near the Jordan.

Then he called out to the Lord, “O Lord, my God, are you also bringing disaster on this widow I am staying with by killing her son?”

With the stones he constructed an altar for the Lord. ¹  Around the altar he made a trench large enough to contain two seahs ²  of seed.

When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He slept in sackcloth and walked around dejected.

But they were so insistent, he became embarrassed. So he said, “Send them out.” They sent the fifty men out and they looked for three days, but could not find Elijah. ¹ 

Now when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire to come down from heaven and consume ¹  them?” ² 

Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more except Jesus.

He answered, “I have been absolutely loyal ¹  to the Lord, the sovereign God, ²  even though the Israelites have abandoned the agreement they made with you, ³  torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and now they want to take my life.” ⁴ 

While Elisha was watching, he was crying out, “My father, my father! The chariot and horsemen of Israel!” ¹  Then he could no longer see him. He grabbed his clothes and tore them in two.

As certainly as the Lord your God lives, my master has sent to every nation and kingdom in an effort to find you. When they say, ‘He’s not here,’ he makes them ¹  swear an oath that they could not find you.

The Lord ¹  said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord. Look, the Lord is ready to pass by.” A very powerful wind went before the Lord, digging into the mountain and causing landslides, ²  but the Lord was not in the wind. After the windstorm there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

He answered, “I have been absolutely loyal ¹  to the Lord, the sovereign God, ²  even though the Israelites have abandoned the agreement they made with you, ³  torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and now they want to take my life.” ⁴ 

They said to him, “Look, there are fifty capable men with your servants. Let them go and look for your master, for the wind sent from the Lord ¹  may have carried him away and dropped him on one of the hills or in one of the valleys.” But Elisha ²  replied, “Don’t send them out.”