³⁰ Therefore they said to Him, What sign (miracle, wonderwork) will ^[a]You perform then, so that we may see it and believe and rely on and adhere to You? What [supernatural] work have You [to show what You can do]?

³¹ Our forefathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as the Scripture says, He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.^(A)

³² Jesus then said to them, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, Moses did not give you the Bread from heaven [what Moses gave you was not the Bread from heaven], but it is My Father Who gives you the true heavenly Bread.

³³ For the Bread of God is He Who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.

³⁴ Then they said to Him, Lord, give us this bread always (all the time)!

³⁵ Jesus replied, I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to Me will never be hungry, and he who believes in and cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me will never thirst any more (at any time).

³⁶ But [as] I told you, although you have seen Me, still you do not believe and trust and have faith.

³⁷ All whom My Father gives (entrusts) to Me will come to Me; and the one who comes to Me I will most certainly not cast out [I will never, no never, reject one of them who comes to Me].

³⁸ For I have come down from heaven not to do My own will and purpose but to do the will and purpose of Him Who sent Me.

³⁹ And this is the will of Him Who sent Me, that I should not lose any of all that He has given Me, but that I should give new life and raise [them all] up at the last day.

⁴⁰ For this is My Father’s will and His purpose, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in and cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up [from the dead] at the last day.

Read full chapter

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.