Beginning

Chapter 4

The Widow’s Oil.^{[a] 1} Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant lived in fear of the Lord. His creditor is coming to take away his two sons to be his slaves.” ² Elisha said, “What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have at home?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing at home except for a flask of oil.” ³ He said, “Go around and borrow jars from all of your neighbors. Empty jars, and not too few of them. ⁴ Then go inside, and shut the door behind you and your sons. Fill all of those jars, and when a jar is full, set it to the side.”

⁵ So she left him, and she shut the door behind her and her sons who had brought her jars, and she kept pouring. ⁶ When all of the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another jar.” He said, “There are no more jars,” and then the oil stopped flowing.

⁷ She went and recounted it to the man of God, and he said, “Go and sell the oil and pay your debt. You and your children can live on what is left over.”

Elisha and the Shunammite.^{[b] 8} One day Elisha traveled to Shunem.^[c] There was an important woman there, and she insisted that he stop to eat. Whenever he passed by there, he would stop to eat.

⁹ She said to her husband, “Behold, this man who often visits us is a holy man of God. ¹⁰ We should prepare a small room on the roof, and place a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp in it for him. Then he can stay there when he visits us.”

¹¹ One day he arrived, and he went into the room to lie down. ¹² He said to Gehazi, his servant, “Call the Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him. ¹³ He said to him, “Say to her, ‘You have put yourself through all this trouble for us. What could be done for you? Should we speak to the king or the commander of the army for you?’ ” She answered, “I dwell among my own people.”

¹⁴ He said, “Then what can be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “She and her husband are old, and they have no children.” ¹⁵ Elisha said, “Summon her.” He called her and she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶ He said, “You will embrace a son around this time next year.” She said, “No, my lord, O man of God. Do not lie to your servant.”

¹⁷ The woman became pregnant, and she had a son that time the next year, just as Elisha had predicted. ¹⁸ The child grew up, and one day he went out to his father who was with the reapers. ¹⁹ He said to his father, “My head! My head!” He said to a young man, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰ He picked him up and brought him to his mother. He sat on her lap until noon when he died.

²¹ She went up and laid him on the bed belonging to the man of God. She closed him in the room and went out. ²² She called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys so that I can hurry to the man of God and return.” ²³ He said, “Why would you go today? It is not a new moon or the Sabbath.” But she said, “It is all right.”^[d]

²⁴ She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on, and do not slow down for me unless I tell you.” ²⁵ So she departed and came to the man of God on Mount Carmel.

When the man of God saw her from a distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Behold, it is the Shunammite. ²⁶ Run to her and say to her, ‘Is everything all right? Is your husband well? Is your child well?’ ” She answered, “It is all right.”

²⁷ When she reached the man of God on the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi approached to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone. Her spirit is in despair, but the Lord had hidden it from me and did not tell me.”

²⁸ She said, “Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not lie to me.’ ”

²⁹ Elisha said to Gehazi, “Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hands, and go! If you meet anyone, do not greet him. And if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff upon the child’s face.”^{[e] 30} But the boy’s mother said, “As the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.

³¹ Gehazi went on before them, and he laid the staff upon the child’s face, but there was no sound or response. He went out to meet him, and he said to him, “The child did not wake up.”

³² When Elisha arrived at the house, the child was lying dead upon his bed. ³³ He went in, and he shut the door on the two of them, and then he prayed to the Lord. ³⁴ He got up and lay upon the child, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, and hands to hands. He stretched himself out upon the child, and the child’s flesh grew warm. ³⁵ He turned and walked back and forth in the room, and then he went and stretched himself out again. The boy sneezed seven times, and then the boy opened his eyes.

³⁶ Elisha called for Gehazi, and he said, “Call this Shunammite.” He called her, and she came, and he said to her, “Take your son.” ³⁷ She came in and bowed down, falling to the ground at Elisha’s feet. She then took her son and left.

³⁸ Poisoned Stew. Elisha returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land. The sons of the prophets were sitting in front of him, and he said to his servant, “Set up the large pot and cook some soup for the sons of the prophets.”

³⁹ One of them went out into the field to gather some herbs and he found a wild vine. He picked the wild gourds, filling his cloak. He cut them up into the pot of soup, although no one knew what they were.

⁴⁰ When they poured out the soup for the men to eat, and they began to eat the soup, they cried out, “O man of God, there is death in the pot.” And they could not eat it.

⁴¹ He said, “Bring some flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Pour it out for the people to eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

⁴² Multiplication of Loaves. A man came from Baal-shalishah, and he brought the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread from the firstfruits along with some heads of grain. He said, “Give it to the people so that they might eat.” ⁴³ His servant said, “What? Should I place this before one hundred men?” But he said again, “Give it to the people to eat, for thus says the Lord: They will eat, and there will be some left over.”

⁴⁴ He set it before them, and they ate, and there was some left over, just as the Lord had predicted.

Chapter 5

Cure of Naaman.^{[f] 1} There was a certain Naaman, who was the commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was an honorable man, highly esteemed by his master, because it was through him that the Lord had delivered Aram. He was a brave soldier, but he had leprosy.

² Aramean raiders had gone out into the land of Israel and had taken a young girl captive who served Naaman’s wife. ³ She said to her mistress, “If only my lord would present himself to the prophet who is in Samaria. He would cure him of his leprosy.”

⁴ He went to his lord and said, “This is what the young girl from the land of Israel said.”

⁵ The king of Aram said, “Go! I will send a letter to the king of Israel.”

He went on his way, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of clothing. ⁶ He brought the letter to the king of Israel which said, “With this letter I am sending you my servant Naaman so that you might cure him of his leprosy.”

⁷ When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, with the power to kill and give life, that he sends me a man to heal him of his leprosy? Think of it, see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”

⁸ When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me so that he might know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

⁹ So Naaman went with his horses and his chariot, and he stood at the door to Elisha’s house. ¹⁰ Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash seven times in the Jordan, and your skin will be restored, and you will be clean.”

¹¹ But Naaman went away angry and said, “Behold, I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord, his God, and wave his hand over the place and heal the leprosy. ¹² Are not the Abana and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all of the rivers of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be made clean?”

So he turned away and left in a rage. ¹³ His servants approached him and spoke to him saying, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more should you do it when he said, ‘Wash and be made clean.’ ”

¹⁴ He went down and he bathed himself in the Jordan seven times as the man of God had instructed him to do. His skin became like the skin of a little child, and he was clean.

¹⁵ He and all of his attendants returned to the man of God. He came and he stood before him and said, “Behold, I now know that there is no God upon the earth except in Israel. Please accept a gift from your servant.” ¹⁶ He answered, “As the Lord lives before whom I stand, I will not accept it.” Even though he urged him to take it, he refused.^[g]

^17 [h]Naaman said, “If not, then let your servant be given two donkey loads of dirt, for your servant will never again offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to any other god but the Lord. ¹⁸ Only may the Lord forgive me this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand and I also bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant this thing.”

¹⁹ He said to him, “Go in peace.” He left and traveled a little way. ²⁰ But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, “Behold, my master has spared Naaman the Aramean by not accepting from his hands what he brought. As the Lord lives, I will run after him and take something from him.”

²¹ So Gehazi followed Naaman. When Naaman saw him running after him, he got off the chariot to greet him and he said, “Is all well?” ²² He answered, “All is well. My master sent me, saying, ‘Two young men from among the sons of the prophets have now come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing.’ ”

²³ Naaman said, “Please take two talents.” He urged it on him, and he bound up two talents of silver in two bags along with two changes of clothing. He entrusted it to two of his servants who carried it before him. ²⁴ When he came to the tower, he took it from their hands and he placed it in the house. He then dismissed the men and they left.

²⁵ He went in and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, “Where are you coming from, Gehazi?” He answered, “Your servant has not gone anywhere.” ²⁶ He said to him, “Was not my spirit with you when the man got off of his chariot to meet you? Is this now the time to receive money, or clothing, or olive orchards, or vineyards, or sheep, or oxen, or menservants, or maidservants? ²⁷ On account of this, Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and your descendants forever.” He went out from his presence, and he was a leper, as white as snow.