2 Kings 2:15 (DBY)

Passage

And the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho on the opposite side saw him, and they said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him,

Nearby Context

2 Kings 2:13 And he took up the mantle of Elijah which fell from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan;

2 Kings 2:14 and he took the mantle of Elijah which had fallen from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is Jehovah, the God of Elijah? He also smote the waters, and they parted hither and thither, and Elisha went over.

2 Kings 2:15 And the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho on the opposite side saw him, and they said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him,

2 Kings 2:16 and said to him, Behold now, there are with thy servants fifty valiant men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master, lest perhaps the Spirit of Jehovah have taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some ravine. And he said, Ye shall not send.

2 Kings 2:17 And they pressed him till he was ashamed, and he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men, and they sought three days, but did not find him.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "Spirit", "sons", "prophets", "jericho", "opposite", "side", "said", and "elijah". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "Spirit" and "sons", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 14's "and he took the mantle of Elijah..." into verse 16's "and said to him Behold now there...", so "Spirit" and "sons" belong inside that flow. In 2 Kings context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "Spirit" and "sons" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.