2 Kings 4
New Century Version
A Widow Asks Elisha for Help
4 The wife of a man from the groups of prophets said to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead. You know he honored the Lord. But now the man he owes money to is coming to take my two boys as his slaves!”
2 Elisha answered, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
The woman said, “I don’t have anything there except a pot of oil.”
3 Then Elisha said, “Go and get empty jars from all your neighbors. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go into your house and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and set the full ones aside.”
5 So she left Elisha and shut the door behind her and her sons. As they brought the jars to her, she poured out the oil. 6 When the jars were all full, she said to her son, “Bring me another jar.”
But he said, “There are no more jars.” Then the oil stopped flowing.
7 She went and told Elisha. And the prophet said to her, “Go, sell the oil and pay what you owe. You and your sons can live on what is left.”
The Shunammite Woman
8 One day Elisha went to Shunem, where an important woman lived. She begged Elisha to stay and eat. So every time Elisha passed by, he stopped there to eat. 9 The woman said to her husband, “I know that this is a holy man of God who passes by our house all the time. 10 Let’s make a small room on the roof[a] and put a bed in the room for him. We can put a table, a chair, and a lampstand there. Then when he comes by, he can stay there.”
11 One day Elisha came to the woman’s house. After he went to his room and rested, 12 he said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite woman.”
When the servant had called her, she stood in front of him. 13 Elisha had told his servant, “Now say to her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. What can I do for you? Do you want me to speak to the king or the commander of the army for you?’”
She answered, “I live among my own people.”
14 Elisha said to Gehazi, “But what can we do for her?”
He answered, “She has no son, and her husband is old.”
15 Then Elisha said to Gehazi, “Call her.” When he called her, she stood in the doorway. 16 Then Elisha said, “About this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms.”
The woman said, “No, master, man of God, don’t lie to me, your servant!”
17 But the woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son at that time the next year, just as Elisha had told her.
18 The boy grew up and one day went out to his father, who was with the grain harvesters. 19 The boy said to his father, “My head! My head!”
The father said to his servant, “Take him to his mother!” 20 The servant took him to his mother, and he lay on his mother’s lap until noon. Then he died. 21 So she took him up and laid him on Elisha’s bed. Then she shut the door and left.
22 She called to her husband, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys. Then I can go quickly to the man of God and return.”
23 The husband said, “Why do you want to go to him today? It isn’t the New Moon or the Sabbath day.”
She said, “It will be all right.”
24 Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on. Don’t slow down for me unless I tell you.” 25 So she went to Elisha, the man of God, at Mount Carmel.
When he saw her coming from far away, he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, there’s the Shunammite woman! 26 Run to meet her and ask, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is the boy all right?’”
She answered, “Everything is all right.”
27 Then she came to Elisha at the hill and grabbed his feet. Gehazi came near to pull her away, but Elisha said to him, “Leave her alone. She’s very upset, and the Lord has not told me about it. He has hidden it from me.”
28 She said, “Master, did I ask you for a son? Didn’t I tell you not to lie to me?”
29 Then Elisha said to Gehazi, “Get ready. Take my walking stick in your hand and go quickly. If you meet anyone, don’t say hello. If anyone greets you, don’t respond. Lay my walking stick on the boy’s face.”
30 The boy’s mother said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I won’t leave you!” So Elisha got up and followed her.
31 Gehazi went on ahead and laid the walking stick on the boy’s face, but the boy did not talk or move. Then Gehazi went back to meet Elisha. “The boy has not awakened,” he said.
32 When Elisha came into the house, the boy was lying dead on his bed. 33 Elisha entered the room and shut the door, so only he and the boy were in the room. Then he prayed to the Lord. 34 He went to the bed and lay on the boy, putting his mouth on the boy’s mouth, his eyes on the boy’s eyes, and his hands on the boy’s hands. He stretched himself out on top of the boy. Soon the boy’s skin became warm. 35 Elisha turned away and walked around the room. Then he went back and put himself on the boy again. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
36 Elisha called Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite!” So he did. When she came, Elisha said, “Pick up your son.” 37 She came in and fell at Elisha’s feet, bowing facedown to the floor. Then she picked up her son and went out.
Elisha and the Stew
38 When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a shortage of food in the land. While the groups of prophets were sitting in front of him, he said to his servant, “Put the large pot on the fire, and boil some stew for these men.”
39 One of them went out into the field to gather plants. Finding a wild vine, he picked fruit from the vine and filled his robe with it. Then he came and cut up the fruit into the pot. But they didn’t know what kind of fruit it was. 40 They poured out the stew for the others to eat. When they began to eat it, they shouted, “Man of God, there’s death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.
41 Elisha told them to bring some flour. He threw it into the pot and said, “Pour it out for the people to eat.” Then there was nothing harmful in the pot.
Elisha Feeds the People
42 A man from Baal Shalishah came to Elisha, bringing him twenty loaves of barley bread from the first harvest. He also brought fresh grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give it to the people to eat.”
43 Elisha’s servant asked, “How can I feed a hundred people with so little?”
“Give the bread to the people to eat,” Elisha said. “This is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and will have food left over.’” 44 After he gave it to them, the people ate and had food left over, as the Lord had said.
Footnotes
- 4:10 roof In Bible times houses were built with flat roofs. The roof was used for drying things such as flax and fruit. And it was used as an extra room, as a place for worship, and as a cool place to sleep in the summer.
2 Kings 4
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
4 Now the wife of a son of the prophets cried to Elisha, Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. But the creditor has come to take my two sons to be his slaves.
2 Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me, what have you [of sale value] in the house? She said, Your handmaid has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.
3 Then he said, Go around and borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels—and not a few.
4 And when you come in, shut the door upon you and your sons. Then pour out [the oil you have] into all those vessels, setting aside each one when it is full.
5 So she went from him and shut the door upon herself and her sons, who brought to her the vessels as she poured the oil.
6 When the vessels were all full, she said to her son, Bring me another vessel. And he said to her, There is not a one left. Then the oil stopped multiplying.
7 Then she came and told the man of God. He said, Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons live on the rest.
8 One day Elisha went on to Shunem, where a rich and influential woman lived, who insisted on his eating a meal. Afterward, whenever he passed by, he stopped there for a meal.
9 And she said to her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God who passes by continually.
10 Let us make a small chamber on the [housetop] and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp. Then whenever he comes to us, he can go [up the outside stairs and rest] here.
11 One day he came and turned into the chamber and lay there.
12 And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. When he had called her, she stood before him.
13 And he said to Gehazi, Say now to her, You have been most painstakingly and reverently concerned for us; what is to be done for you? Would you like to be spoken for to the king or to the commander of the army? She answered, I dwell among my own people [they are sufficient].
14 Later Elisha said, What then is to be done for her? Gehazi answered, She has no child and her husband is old.
15 He said, Call her. [Gehazi] called her, and she stood in the doorway.
16 Elisha said, At this season when the time comes round, you shall embrace a son. She said, No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your handmaid.
17 But the woman conceived and bore a son at that season the following year, as Elisha had said to her.
18 When the child had grown, he went out one day to his father with the reapers.
19 But he said to his father, My head, my head! The man said to his servant, Carry him to his mother.
20 And when he was brought 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, and shut the door upon him and went out.
22 And she called to her husband and said, Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may go quickly to the man of God and come back again.
23 And he said, Why go to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath. And she said, It will be all right.
24 Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, Ride fast; do not slacken your pace for me unless I tell you.
25 So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her afar off, he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite.
26 Run to meet her and say, Is it well with you? Well with your husband? Well with the child? And she answered, It is well.
27 When she came to the mountain to the man of God, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came to thrust her away, but the man of God said, Let her alone, for her soul is bitter and vexed within her, and the Lord has hid it from me and has not told me.
28 Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? Did I not say, Do not deceive me?
29 Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up your loins and take my staff in your hand and go lay my staff on the face of the child. If you meet any man, do not salute him. If he salutes you, do not answer him.
30 The mother of the child said, As the Lord lives and as my soul lives, I will not leave you. And he arose and followed her.
31 Gehazi passed on before them and laid the staff on the child’s face, but the boy neither spoke nor heard. So he went back to meet Elisha and said to him, The child has not awakened.
32 When Elisha arrived in the house, the child was dead and laid upon his bed.
33 So he went in, shut the door on the two of them, and prayed to the Lord.
34 He went up and lay on the child, put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself on him and embraced him, the child’s flesh became warm.
35 Then he returned and walked in the house to and fro and went up again and stretched himself upon him. And the child sneezed seven times, and then opened his eyes.
36 Then [Elisha] called Gehazi and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she came, he said, Take up your son.
37 She came and fell at his feet, bowing herself to the ground. Then she took up her son and went out.
38 Elisha came back to Gilgal during a famine in the land. The sons of the prophets were sitting before him, and he said to his servant, Set on the big pot and cook pottage for the sons of the prophets.
39 Then one went into the field to gather herbs and gathered from a wild vine his lap full of wild gourds, and returned and cut them up into the pot of pottage, for they were unknown to them.
40 So they poured it out for the men to eat. But as they ate of the pottage, they cried out, O man of God, there is death in the pot! And they could not eat it.
41 But he said, Bring meal [as a symbol of God’s healing power]. And he cast it into the pot and said, Pour it out for the people that they may eat. Then there was no harm in the pot.
42 [At another time] a man from Baal-shalisha came and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of grain [in the husk] in his sack. And Elisha said, Give to the men that they may eat.
43 His servant said, How am I to set [only] this before a hundred [hungry] men? He said, Give to the men that they may eat. For thus says the Lord: They shall be fed and have some left.
44 So he set it before them, and they ate and left some, as the Lord had said.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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