Bible Strands
2 Kings 2:14
Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the waters. “Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” he asked. And when he had struck the waters, they parted to the right and to the left, and Elisha crossed over.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Elisha stands alone on the Jordan’s bank immediately after Elijah’s departure, speaking to the empty air as he prepares to act. He poses a rhetorical challenge to the waters after retrieving the mantle that fell from his predecessor.
The words — וַ/יִּקַּח֩ (va/i.yi.Kach) translates literally as “and he took,” marking Elisha’s deliberate seizure of the fallen garment. אַדֶּ֨רֶת ('a.De.ret) specifies the prophetic cloak that had dropped from Elijah onto the ground.
The thread — The phrase “Where now is the LORD?” parallels the doubters’ taunt in Psalms 42:10 and the nations’ question in Psalms 115:2. The expectation of continued and expanded prophetic works aligns with the promise recorded in John 14:12.
Why it lands — The text first records Elisha striking the Jordan and the waters parting before noting the sons of the prophets witnessing the event. It requires a reader to recognize the concrete transfer of prophetic authority through visible action rather than unverified claim.
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
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.
Cross-references
- John 14:12 Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I am doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
- Psalms 42:10 Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
- Psalms 115:2 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
- Joshua 1:1 Now after the death of His servant Moses, the LORD spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying,
- Acts 3:12 And when Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why are you surprised by this? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
- Judges 6:13 “Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the LORD brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”
- 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.
- Psalms 42:2 My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear in God’s presence?
- Joel 2:17 Let the priests who minister before the LORD weep between the portico and the altar, saying, “Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not make Your heritage a reproach, an object of scorn among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
- Mark 16:20 And they went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked through them, confirming His word by the signs that accompanied it.