4 Kings 2:1
And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elias into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elias and Eliseus were going from Galgal.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Factum est autem cum levare vellet Dominus Eliam per turbinem in cælum, ibant Elias et Eliseus de Galgalis.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ἀνάγειν Κύριον τὸν Ἠλειοὺ ἐν συνσεισμῷ ὡς εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, καὶ ἐπορεύθη Ἠλειοὺ καὶ Ἐλεισαῖε ἐξ Ἰερειχώ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיְהִ֗י בְּהַעֲל֤וֹת יְהוָה֙ אֶת אֵ֣לִיָּ֔הוּ בַּֽסְעָרָ֖ה הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם וַיֵּ֧לֶךְ אֵלִיָּ֛הוּ וֶאֱלִישָׁ֖ע מִן הַגִּלְגָּֽל
Haydock's commentary
Heaven. By heaven here is meant, the air, the lowest of the heavenly regions, (Challoner) through which he was carried by the ministry of angels, who directed the storm, (Haydock ) to the place designed for him.
It is generally supposed to be Paradise, (Calmet) whither Henoch had been translated. (Haydock)
They are still living, (Calmet) and must come again, to invite all to repent. After which they will die martyrs, in the persecution of Antichrist. (Haydock)
See St. Augustine, de Gen. ad lit. ix. 6., and Apocalypse xi. (Worthington)
Ecclesiasticus xlviii. 10. (Menochius)
They are a proof of a future resurrection. (Calmet)
To decide where the paradise which they inhabit, (Haydock) is situated, would be rash. (St. Chrysostom, hom. 21. in Gen. &c.) Some suppose it is still in some unknown region of the earth: others place it above the sky, (Menochius) or in the bosom of Abraham. (Calmet)
The Jews (following Munster) assert that Elias penetrated the sphere of fire, where his body was consumed. (Vatable)
The earthly paradise is very probably no longer existing, in its ancient luxuriant state. (Haydock)
It may now be covered with the waters of the Persian Gulf. (Worthington)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.