Elisha and the Widow’s Oil^(A)

4 A certain woman of the wives of ^(B)the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming ^(C)to take my two sons to be his slaves.”

³ Now ^(A)the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that the Lord will take away your master ^[a]from over you today?”

And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent!”

²⁵ But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded ^(A)that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.

² For there were those who said, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live.”

³ There were also some who said, “We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.”

⁴ There were also those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards. ⁵ Yet now ^(A)our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we ^(B)are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.”

⁵ Then a voice came from the throne, saying, ^(A)“Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, ^(B)both^[a] small and great!”

The Law Concerning Slavery

³⁹ ‘And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. ⁴⁰ As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee. ⁴¹ And then he shall depart from you—he and his children ^(A)with him—and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers.

¹³ For ^(A)judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown ^(B)no ^(C)mercy. ^(D)Mercy triumphs over judgment.