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11 One day Elisha returned to Shunem, and he went up to this upper room to rest. 12 He said to his servant Gehazi, “Tell the woman from Shunem I want to speak to her.” When she appeared, 13 Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tell her, ‘We appreciate the kind concern you have shown us. What can we do for you? Can we put in a good word for you to the king or to the commander of the army?’”

“No,” she replied, “my family takes good care of me.”

14 Later Elisha asked Gehazi, “What can we do for her?”

Gehazi replied, “She doesn’t have a son, and her husband is an old man.”

15 “Call her back again,” Elisha told him. When the woman returned, Elisha said to her as she stood in the doorway, 16 “Next year at this time you will be holding a son in your arms!”

“No, my lord!” she cried. “O man of God, don’t deceive me and get my hopes up like that.”

17 But sure enough, the woman soon became pregnant. And at that time the following year she had a son, just as Elisha had said.

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11 One day, Elisha[a] came by to visit and stopped in to rest in the upper chamber. 12 He told his attendant[b] Gehazi, “Call this Shunammite.” So when he had summoned her, she stood in front of him.

13 Elisha[c] told him, “Ask her, ‘Look how you’ve gone to all this trouble to care for us! What can I do for you? Do you wish to be mentioned to the king or to the head of the army?’”

She replied, “I’m at home[d] living among my own people.”

14 He responded, “What, then, is to be done on her behalf?”

Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son and her husband is growing old.”

15 “Call her,” Elisha[e] ordered. After he called her, she came and stood in the doorway, 16 and he told her, “About this time next year you will be embracing a son.”

“No, sir! Please, as a godly man,[f] don’t mislead your servant!” 17 But the woman did conceive and did bear a son at that very same time the next year, just as Elisha had told her.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 4:11 Lit. he
  2. 2 Kings 4:12 Lit. his young man; and so throughout the chapter
  3. 2 Kings 4:13 Lit. He
  4. 2 Kings 4:13 So LXX; the Heb. lacks at home
  5. 2 Kings 4:15 Lit. he
  6. 2 Kings 4:16 Or a man of God