And he said. — Heb., spake. The LXX. adds, “and Elijah said.”
Is it not because. — Omit “not.” The question is here parenthetic, the connection of the main sentence being, “Forasmuch as thou hast sent... therefore thou shalt not come down,” &c.
Off. — From, as in 2 Kings 1:4; 2 Kings 1:6. The words of the oracle are thrice repeated verbally.
“Here, just as in other cases,” says Bähr, “Elijah reappears suddenly and disappears again, and no one knows whence he comes or whither he goes.” The peculiar form of the story suggests that it was derived in the first instance from oral tradition rather than from a written source.