Knowing the day of his departure had come, Elijah travelled with Elisha from Gilgal to Bethel, then to Jericho, then to the Jordan. At each stop he urged his disciple to stay behind; each time Elisha refused: 'As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you' (2 Kings 2:6).
At the Jordan, Elijah rolled up his mantle and struck the waters; they parted, and the two crossed on dry ground. Elijah asked, 'Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.' Elisha asked for a double share of his master's spirit. 'You have asked a hard thing,' Elijah said, 'yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you.'
'As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven.' Elijah's mantle fell. Elisha picked it up, struck the Jordan, and the waters parted again. With Enoch (Genesis 5:24), Elijah is one of two figures in Scripture said not to have died — and at the Transfiguration, he and Moses stand with Christ.