2 Kings 2:17
And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not. And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not.
After Elijah was taken, the sons of the prophets urged permission to look for him until consent was given out of shame at their insistence, and fifty men were then sent to seek him for three days without finding him. Their search was earnest and prolonged, yet it ended in complete failure because he was no longer to be found on earth. This fruitless seeking after a translated prophet had a precedent in the experience of Enoch, for whom the people also searched diligently after God took him. As with Elijah, they imagined Enoch might have withdrawn to some place of retreat and looked for him there, but they did not find him because God had taken him.