2 Kings 4
Common English Bible
A poor widow
4 Now there was a woman who had been married to a member of a group of prophets. She appealed to Elisha, saying, “My husband, your servant, is dead. You know how he feared the Lord. But now someone he owed money to has come to take my two children away as slaves.”
2 Elisha said to her, “What can I do for you? Tell me what you still have left in the house.”
She said, “Your servant has nothing at all in the house except a small jar of oil.”
3 He said, “Go out and borrow containers from all your neighbors. Get as many empty containers as possible. 4 Then go in and close the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all those containers. Set each one aside when it’s full.”
5 She left Elisha and closed the door behind her and her sons. They brought her containers as she kept on pouring. 6 When she had filled the containers, she said to her son, “Bring me another container.”
He said to her, “There aren’t any more.” Then the oil stopped flowing, 7 and she reported this to the man of God.
He said, “Go! Sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what remains.”
A rich woman
8 One day Elisha went to Shunem. A rich woman lived there. She urged him to eat something, so whenever he passed by, he would stop in to eat some food. 9 She said to her husband, “Look, I know that he is a holy man of God and he passes by regularly. 10 Let’s make a small room on the roof. We’ll set up a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp for him there. Then when he comes to us, he can stay there.”
11 So one day Elisha came there, headed to the room on the roof, and lay down. 12 He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call this Shunammite woman.” Gehazi called her, and she stood before him. 13 Elisha then said to Gehazi, “Say to her, ‘Look, you’ve gone to all this trouble for us. What can I do for you? Is there anything I can say on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?’”
She said, “I’m content to live at home with my own people.”
14 Elisha asked, “So what can be done for her?”
Gehazi said, “Well, she doesn’t have a son, and her husband is old.”
15 Elisha said, “Call her.” So Gehazi called her, and she stood at the door. 16 Elisha said, “About this time next year, you will be holding a son in your arms.”
But she said, “No, man of God, sir; don’t lie to your servant.”
17 But the woman conceived and gave birth to a son at about the same time the next year. This was what Elisha had promised her.
18 The child grew up. One day he ran to his father, who was with the harvest workers. 19 He said to his father, “Oh, my head! My head!”
The father said to a young man, “Carry him to his mother.” 20 So he picked up the boy and brought him to his mother.
The boy sat on her lap until noon. Then he died. 21 She went up and laid him down on the bed for the man of God. Then she went out and closed the door. 22 She called her husband and said, “Send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys so that I can hurry to the man of God and come back.”
23 Her husband said, “Why are you going to him today? It’s not a new moon or sabbath.”
She said, “Don’t worry about it.” 24 She saddled the donkey, then said to her young servant, “Drive the donkey hard. Don’t let me slow down unless I tell you.” 25 So she went off and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
As soon as the man of God saw her from a distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, it’s the Shunammite woman! 26 Run out to meet her and ask her, ‘Are things okay with you, your husband, and your child?’”
She said, “Things are okay.”
27 When she got to the man of God at the mountain, she grabbed his feet. Gehazi came up to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is distraught, but the Lord has hidden the reason from me and hasn’t told me why.”
28 She said, “Did I ask you for a son, sir? Didn’t I say, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?”
29 Elisha said to Gehazi, “Get ready, take my staff, and go! If you encounter anyone, don’t stop to greet them. If anyone greets you, don’t reply. Put my staff on the boy’s face.”
30 But the boy’s mother said, “I swear by your life and by the Lord’s life, I won’t leave you!” So Elisha got up and followed her.
31 Gehazi went on ahead of them. He set the staff on the young boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So he went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy didn’t wake up.”
32 Elisha came into the house and saw the boy lying dead on his bed. 33 He went in and closed the door behind the two of them. Then he prayed to the Lord. 34 He got up on the bed and lay down on top of the child, putting his mouth on the boy’s mouth, his eyes on the boy’s eyes, his hands on the boy’s hands. And as he bent over him, the child’s skin grew warm. 35 Then Elisha got down and paced back and forth in the house. Once again he got up on the bed and bent over the boy, at which point the boy sneezed[a] seven times and opened his eyes. 36 Elisha called for Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” Gehazi called her, and she came to Elisha. He told her, “Pick up your son.” 37 She came and fell at his feet, facedown on the ground. Then she picked up her son and left.
Miracles with food
38 When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. A group of prophets was sitting before him. He said to his servant, “Put on the big pot and cook some stew for the prophets.” 39 So one of them went out to the field to gather plants; he found a wild vine and gathered wild gourds from it, filling his garment. He came and cut them up into the pot of stew, but no one knew what they were.
40 The stew was served to the men, but as they started to eat it, they cried out and said, “There is death in that pot, man of God!” They couldn’t eat it.
41 Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Serve the people so they can eat.” At that point, there was nothing bad left in the pot.
42 A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God some bread from the early produce—twenty loaves of barley bread and fresh grain from his bag.[b] Elisha said, “Give it to the people so they can eat.”
43 His servant said, “How can I feed one hundred men with this?”
Elisha said, “Give it to the people so they can eat! This is what the Lord says: ‘Eat and there will be leftovers.’” 44 So the servant gave the food to them. They ate and had leftovers, in agreement with the Lord’s word.
Footnotes
- 2 Kings 4:35 Or gasped; Heb uncertain
- 2 Kings 4:42 Or still on its stem
Melachim Bais 4
Orthodox Jewish Bible
4 Now there cried out a certain isha of the nashim of the Bnei HaNevi’im unto Elishah, saying, Thy eved my ish is dead; and thou knowest that thy eved did fear Hashem: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two yeladim to be avadim (slaves).
2 And Elishah said unto her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in the bais? And she said, Thine shifchah hath not anything in the bais, except a flask of shemen.
3 Then he said, Go, borrow thee kelim from all around of all thy shchenim, even empty kelim; borrow not a few.
4 And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the delet behind thee and behind thy banim, shalt pour out into all those kelim, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.
5 So she went from him, and shut the delet behind her and behind her banim, who were bringing to her; and she poured.
6 And it came to pass, when the kelim were full, that she said unto her ben, Bring me another keli. And he said unto her, There is not any more keli. And the shemen stopped.
7 Then she came and told the Ish HaElohim. And he said, Go, sell the shemen, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy banim on the rest.
8 And then one day Elishah passed over to Shunem, where was an isha gedolah; and she constrained him to eat lechem. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in there to eat lechem.
9 And she said unto her ish, Hinei now, I perceive that this is an Ish Elohim Kadosh, which passeth by us tamid.
10 Please, let us make a small aliyyat kir (walled upper room); and let us set for him there a mittah (bed), and a shulchan (table), and a kisse (chair), and a menorah: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in there.
11 And then one day he came there, and he turned in the aliyyah (upper room), and lay there.
12 And he said to Geichazi his na’ar, Call this Shunamit. And when he had called her, she stood before him.
13 And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Hinei, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? Wouldest thou be spoken for to HaMelech, or to the Sar HaTzava? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people.
14 And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Geichazi answered, Verily she hath no ben, and her ish is zaken.
15 And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the petach (doorway).
16 And he said, About this mo’ed, according to the et chayyah (Gen. 18:10), thou choveket ben (shalt embrace a son). And she said, No, adoni, thou Ish HaElohim, do not give false hope unto thine shifchah.
17 And the isha conceived, and bore ben at that mo’ed that Elishah had said unto her, according to the et chayyah.
18 The yeled grew, and it happened one day, that he went out to Aviv to the kotzerim (harvesters, reapers).
19 And he said unto Aviv, My rosh, my rosh. And he said to the na’ar, Carry him to immo.
20 And when he had lifted him, and brought him to immo, he sat on her birkayim (knees) till tzohorayim, and then died.
21 And she went up, and laid him on the mittat Ish HaElohim, and shut [the door] behind her and went out.
22 And she called unto her ish, and said, Send me now, please, one of the ne’arim, and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the Ish HaElohim, and return.
23 And he said, Madu’a (why) wilt thou go to him today? It is neither Rosh Chodesh, nor Shabbos. And she said, Shalom.
24 Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her na’ar, lead on, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee.
25 So she went and came unto the Ish HaElohim at Mt Carmel. And it came to pass, when the Ish HaElohim saw her afar off, that he said to Geichazi his na’ar, Hinei, over there is that Shunamit:
26 Run now, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it shalom with thee? Is it shalom with thy ish? Is it shalom with the yeled? And she answered, Shalom:
27 And when she came to the Ish HaElohim at the har, she took hold of him by the raglayim: but Geichazi came near to thrust her away. And the Ish HaElohim said, Let her alone; for her nefesh is marah within her: and Hashem hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.
28 Then she said, Did I make request of adoni for a ben? Did I not say, Do not deceive me?
29 Then he said to Geichazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my mishe’net (staff) in thine yad, and run: if thou meet any ish, salute him not; and if any ish salute thee, answer him not again: and lay my mishe’net (staff) upon the face of the na’ar.
30 And the em hana’ar said, As Hashem liveth, and as thy nefesh liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her.
31 And Geichazi passed on ahead of them, and laid the mishe’net (staff) upon the face of the na’ar; but there was neither kol (voice), nor keshet (attention). So he went back to meet him, and told him, saying, The na’ar is not awakened.
32 And when Elishah was come into the bais, hinei, the na’ar was dead, and lying upon his mittah.
33 So he went in, and shut the delet on the two of them, and davened unto Hashem.
34 And he went up, and lay upon the yeled, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his palms upon his palms: and stretched himself upon him; and the basar of the yeled grew warm.
35 Then he turned away, and paced in the bais to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him; and the na’ar sneezed seven times, and the na’ar opened his eyes.
36 And he summoned Geichazi, and said, Call this Shunamit. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy ben.
37 Then she went in, and fell at his raglayim, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her ben, and went out.
38 And Elishah returned to Gilgal; and there was a ra’av (famine) in the land; and the Bnei HaNevi’im were sitting before him; and he said unto his na’ar, Put on the siyr hagedolah, and cook stew for the Bnei HaNevi’im.
39 And one went out into the sadeh to gather orot (herbs), and found a gefen sadeh, and gathered thereof pakku’ot sadeh (wild gourds), the fold of his beged he filled, and came and cut them up into the siyr of stew; though no one knew what they were.
40 So they poured out for the anashim to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the stew, that they cried out, and said, O thou Ish HaElohim, there is mavet in the siyr. And they could not eat thereof.
41 But he said, Then bring kemakh (meal, flour). And he cast it into the siyr; and he said, Serve to HaAm, that they may eat. And there was no rah in the siyr.
42 And there came an ish from Ba’al Shalishah, and brought the Ish HaElohim lechem bikkurim, twenty loaves of se’orim (barley), and [roasted] ears of corn in his sack. And he [Elishah] said, Give unto HaAm, that they may eat.
43 And the one serving him said, What, should I set this before a hundred ish? He said again, Give HaAm, that they may eat; for thus saith Hashem, They shall eat, and there shall be shirayim.
44 So he set it before them, and they did eat, and there was shirayim thereof, according to the Devar Hashem.
2 Kings 4
King James Version
4 Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.
2 And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.
3 Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.
4 And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.
5 So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out.
6 And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.
7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.
8 And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.
9 And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually.
10 Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.
11 And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there.
12 And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him.
13 And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people.
14 And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old.
15 And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door.
16 And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.
17 And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.
18 And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers.
19 And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother.
20 And 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, and shut the door upon him, and went out.
22 And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again.
23 And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? it is neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well.
24 Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee.
25 So she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite:
26 Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well:
27 And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath 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 thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child.
30 And the mother of the child said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her.
31 And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked.
32 And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed.
33 He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord.
34 And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm.
35 Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.
36 And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son.
37 Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out.
38 And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets.
39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not.
40 So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof.
41 But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot.
42 And there came a man from Baalshalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people, that they may eat.
43 And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof.
44 So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the Lord.
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