Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageElisha watched it all and cried out, 'My father! My father! The chariot of Israel and its horsemen!' Then he saw him no more. He grabbed his own garments and tore them in two.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GElisha saw it and cried out, 'Avi! Avi! The chariot of Yisrael and its cavalry!' And he saw him no more. He seized his own garments and tore them into two pieces.
KJV
King James VersionAnd Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleAs Elisha watched, he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And he saw Elijah no more. So taking hold of his own clothes, he tore them in two.
Footnotes
Avi! Avi!' (אָבִי אָבִי) — the double cry of a son watching his father be taken — carries the full weight of grief and love. Eliyahu had never formally adopted Elisha, yet this cry reveals what the relationship had truly become. The title 'the chariot of Yisrael and its cavalry' (*rechev Yisra'el u'farashav*) is a warrior's supreme honour: this one prophet was worth more to the nation's defence than its entire military force. Remarkably, the identical cry will be raised at *Elisha's own* deathbed in 2 Kings 13:14 — a literary echo of extraordinary precision, showing how the mantle, the identity, and the honour passed unbroken from master to heir. FOG uses 'Avi' and 'cavalry' for Hebrew intimacy and military register; FOG Message uses 'My father' and 'horsemen' for emotional immediacy.