2 Kings 4:14-27

New English Translation

¹⁴ So he asked Gehazi,^[a] “What can I do for her?” Gehazi replied, “She has no son, and her husband is old.” ¹⁵ Elisha told him, “Ask her to come here.”^[b] So he did so^[c] and she came and stood in the doorway.^{[d] 16} He said, “About this time next year^[e] you will be holding a son.” She said, “No, my master! O prophet, do not lie to your servant!” ¹⁷ The woman did conceive, and at the specified time the next year she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.

¹⁸ The boy grew and one day he went out to see his father who was with the harvest workers.^{[f] 19} He said to his father, “My head! My head!” His father^[g] told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰ So he picked him up and took him to his mother. He sat on her lap^[h] until noon and then died. ²¹ She went up and laid him down on the prophet’s^[i] bed. She shut the door behind her and left. ²² She called to her husband, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so I can go see the prophet quickly and then return.” ²³ He said, “Why do you want to go see him today? It is not the new moon^[j] or the Sabbath.” She said, “Everything’s fine.”^{[k] 24} She saddled the donkey and told her servant, “Lead on.^[l] Do not stop unless I say so.”^[m]

²⁵ So she went to visit^[n] the prophet at Mount Carmel. When he^[o] saw her at a distance, he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, it’s the Shunammite woman. ²⁶ Now, run to meet her and ask her, ‘Are you well? Are your husband and the boy well?’” She told Gehazi,^[p] “Everything’s fine.” ²⁷ But when she reached the prophet on the mountain, she grabbed hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to push her away, but the prophet said, “Leave her alone, for she is very upset.^[q] The Lord has kept the matter hidden from me; he didn’t tell me about it.”