The Widow’s Oil Multiplied

One of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, has died. You know that your servant feared the Lord. Now the creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves.”

When they first lived there, they did not fear the Lord. So the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them.

So one of the priests they had deported came and lived in Bethel, and he began to teach them how they should fear the Lord.

They feared the Lord, but they also made from their ranks priests for the high places, who were working for them at the shrines of the high places.

They feared the Lord, but they also worshiped their own gods according to the practice of the nations from which they had been deported.

They are still observing the former practices to this day. None of them fear the Lord or observe the statutes and ordinances, the law and commandments that the Lord had commanded the descendants of Jacob, whom he had given the name Israel.

The Lord made a covenant with Jacob’s descendants and commanded them, “Do not fear other gods; do not bow in worship to them; do not serve them; do not sacrifice to them.

Instead fear the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm. You are to bow down to him, and you are to sacrifice to him.

You are to be careful always to observe the statutes, the ordinances, the law, and the commandments he wrote for you; do not fear other gods.

Do not forget the covenant that I have made with you. Do not fear other gods,

but fear the Lord your God, and he will rescue you from all your enemies.”

They feared the Lord but also served their idols. Still today, their children and grandchildren continue doing as their ancestors did.