What Does 2 Kings 2:13 Mean in the King James?
He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan;
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The mantle reaches the river before the way across appears: what is inherited brings you to the threshold, but is not the crossing itself.
THE MEANING
The trace of a work already begun remains within reach after its first bearer is gone. You stand at the edge of the descending waters with what has been left in your hands; the threshold is visible, though passage is not yet.
THE ROOT
אַדֶּרֶת
adderet
GROWS FROM
אדר
ʾ-d-r
To be great, majestic, or splendid.
The word for mantle belongs to a root of majesty, so the garment carries more than the outline of a person who is gone. Elijah is אֵלִיָּהוּ (Eliyahu), “My God is YHWH”; the mantle bearing his name is what Elisha lifts as he returns to the river.
ALSO GROWS
addir: Mighty, majestic.
אַדִּיר
This adjective shares the root’s sense of greatness, showing the splendor carried in the word for mantle.
adderet: Mantle, splendid outer garment.
אַדֶּרֶת
The garment itself belongs to the same word-family as majesty, joining what is worn with what it signifies.
יַרְדֵּן
Yarden
GROWS FROM
ירד
y-r-d
To descend or go down.
“Jordan” in this verse is Yarden. The river’s name is associated with ירד (yarad), “to descend,” so Elisha stands at the edge of a descending flow with the mantle lifted in his hands. The name makes the setting part of the movement: what has been received is brought to the water’s boundary.
ALSO GROWS
yarad: To descend, go down.
יָרַד
This verb gives the root’s basic motion and echoes the descending river at whose bank Elisha stands.
yeridah: Descent, going down.
יְרִידָה
This noun preserves the same downward movement, making the Jordan’s name resonate with the boundary in the verse.
THE PATTERN
What is carried forward becomes visible when it is exercised at a threshold.
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.And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.THE THREAD
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.The same word, אַדֶּרֶת (adderet), “mantle,” is lifted again and brought against the water. Verse 13 pauses at the bank; verse 14 shows the mantle becoming the instrument at the crossing.
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