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Elisha Multiplies the Widow’s Oil

The wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead. You know that your servant feared the Lord. But now the moneylender is coming to take my two sons as slaves.”

Then Elisha said to her, “What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

She said, “Your servant has nothing at all in the house except a jar of olive oil.”

He told her, “Go and ask all your neighbors for jars—empty jars. Don’t ask for only a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Then pour oil into all the jars. When each one is full, set it aside.”

So she went and shut the door to her house behind her and her sons. They brought the jars, and she poured. When a jar was filled, she said to her son, “Bring me another jar.”

Finally he said, “There aren’t any more.” Then the oil stopped.

So she went and told the man of God. He said, “Go and sell the oil and pay your debt. Then you and your sons can live off what’s left.”

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Elisha Answers a Widow’s Request

A certain woman from the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead. Now you know that your servant was a fearer of Yahweh, but the creditor came to take two of my children for himself as slaves. Elisha asked her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” Then she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of olive oil.” Then he said to her, “Go, ask for yourself some containers from the streets, from all your neighbors. You must collect as many empty containers as you can![a] You must also go and shut the door behind you and your children, and you must pour out oil into all of these containers and set the filled ones aside.” So she went from him, and she shut the door behind her and her children. They were bringing containers to her, and she kept pouring. It happened that when the containers were full, she said to her son, “Bring near me another container,” but he said to her, “There is not another container.” Then the olive oil stopped flowing. So she came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the olive oil and repay your debt. You and your sons can live on what is left over.”

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 4:3 Literally “You must not collect only a few empty containers”