Bible Strands
2 Kings 2:13
Elisha also picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah, and he went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Elisha acts alone immediately after Elijah’s departure and his own garment-tearing. He retrieves a fallen object and positions himself at the Jordan River bank.
The words — וַיָּ֙רֶם (va.ya.rem) means “and he took up,” describing Elisha’s deliberate retrieval of the mantle. אֲשֶׁר נָפְלָ֖ה (a.sher na.fe.lah) translates “which had fallen,” marking the cloak’s detachment from Elijah.
The thread — The mantle reappears in 2 Kings 2:8 when Elijah strikes the Jordan, and the calling narrative in 1 Kings 19:19 establishes its initial use.
Why it lands — The text records Elisha’s physical action of reclaiming the garment and returning to the riverbank before any miracle occurs. It demands attention to the sequence of preparation preceding prophetic succession.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan;
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 19:19 So Elijah departed and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve teams of oxen, and he was with the twelfth team. Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak around him.
- 2 Kings 2:8 And Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, and struck the waters, which parted to the right and to the left, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
- 1 Kings 9:26 King Solomon also assembled a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea.