Elijah and the Widow

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ⁹ “Arise, go to ^(A)Zarephath, which belongs to ^(B)Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” ¹⁰ So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” ¹¹ And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

¹² So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a ^[a]jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and ^(C)die.”

¹³ And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. ¹⁴ For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ ”

¹⁵ So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. ¹⁶ The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.

Elijah Revives the Widow’s Son

¹⁷ Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick. And his sickness was so ^[b]serious that ^[c]there was no breath left in him. ¹⁸ So she said to Elijah, ^(D)“What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?”

¹⁹ And he said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. ²⁰ Then he cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by killing her son?” ^21 (E)And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him.” ²² Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he ^(F)revived.

²³ And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives!”

²⁴ Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now by this ^(G)I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth.”

¹⁸ And the child grew. Now it happened one day that he went out to his father, to the reapers. ¹⁹ And he said to his father, “My head, my head!”

So he said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰ When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. ²¹ And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door upon him, and went out. ²² Then she called to her husband, and said, “Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and come back.”

²³ So he said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither the ^(A)New Moon nor the Sabbath.”

And she said, ^[a]“It is well.” ²⁴ Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, “Drive, and go forward; do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.” ²⁵ And so she departed, and went to the man of God ^(B)at Mount Carmel.

So it was, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, the Shunammite woman! ²⁶ Please run now to meet her, and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’ ”

And she answered, “It is well.” ²⁷ Now when she came to the man of God at the hill, she caught him by the feet, but Gehazi came near to push her away. But the man of God said, “Let her alone; for her soul is in deep distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me, and has not told me.”

²⁸ So she said, “Did I ask a son of my lord? ^(C)Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me’?”

²⁹ Then he said to Gehazi, ^(D)“Get^[b] yourself ready, and take my staff in your hand, and be on your way. If you meet anyone, ^(E)do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do not answer him; but ^(F)lay my staff on the face of the child.”

³⁰ And the mother of the child said, ^(G)“As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not ^(H)leave you.” So he arose and followed her. ³¹ Now Gehazi went on ahead of them, and laid the staff on the face of the child; but there was neither voice nor hearing. Therefore he went back to meet him, and told him, saying, “The child has ^(I)not awakened.”

³² When Elisha came into the house, there was the child, lying dead on his bed. ³³ He ^(J)went in therefore, shut the door behind the two of them, ^(K)and prayed to the Lord. ³⁴ And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands; and ^(L)he stretched himself out on the child, and the flesh of the child became warm. ³⁵ He returned and walked back and forth in the house, and again went up ^(M)and stretched himself out on him; then ^(N)the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. ³⁶ And he called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” ³⁷ So she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; then she ^(O)picked up her son and went out.