And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud (as to which see the note at Luke 9:34 ) received, х hupelaben (G5274), 'withdrew' or 'removed'] him out of their sight. It is not for nothing that the cloud is said to have received him "out of their sight;" for lest it should be thought that He had simply disappeared while they were looking in some other direction, the historian emphatically says, it, was 'while they were looking,' or 'gazing steadily' х atenizontes (G816)], that He was taken up, "and a cloud received Him out of their sight." On the same principle, the "double portion" of Elijah's spirit, which Elisha sought from him, was promised on the express condition that he should see him ascend: "If thou see me when I am taken up from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so." Accordingly, when Elijah went up, it is emphatically said, "And Elisha saw it" (2 Kings 2:11-12): See also the note at Luke 9:32, where of the transfiguration it is emphatically said that Peter, and James, and John "saw His glory, and the two men that stood with Him."