7 Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan.
7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view
7 Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan.
7 Meanwhile, fifty men from the guild of prophets gathered some distance away while the two of them stood at the Jordan.
7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood facing them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan.
7 Fifty men from the group of prophets also went and watched from a distance as Elijah and Elisha stopped beside the Jordan River.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Kings 2:7
Commentary on 2 Kings 2:1-8
(Read 2 Kings 2:1-8)
The Lord had let Elijah know that his time was at hand. He therefore went to the different schools of the prophets to give them his last exhortations and blessing. The removal of Elijah was a type and figure of the ascension of Christ, and the opening of the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Elisha had long followed Elijah, and he would not leave him now when he hoped for the parting blessing. Let not those who follow Christ come short by tiring at last. The waters of Jordan, of old, yielded to the ark; now, to the prophet's mantle, as a token of God's presence. When God will take up his faithful ones to heaven, death is the Jordan which they must pass through, and they find a way through it. The death of Christ has divided those waters, that the ransomed of the Lord may pass over. O death, where is thy sting, thy hurt, thy terror!