Old/New Testament

Elisha helps a poor widow

4 There was a woman whose husband belonged to the group of prophets. When her husband died, she called out to Elisha for help. She said, ‘Your servant, my husband, is dead. He served the Lord faithfully. My husband was in debt to a certain man. Now that man wants to take my two children to be his slaves.’

² Elisha said to her, ‘How can I help you? Tell me, what things do you have in your house?’

She said to Elisha, ‘Please sir, I have nothing in the house. All I have is a small jar of olive oil.’

³ Then Elisha said to her, ‘Go to all your neighbours. Ask them to lend you empty jars. Make sure that you get a lot of them. ⁴ Then take the jars into your house. Go in with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour the olive oil from your jar into all the other jars. When each jar is full, put it in a safe place.’

⁵ The widow left Elisha. She went into her house with her sons and she shut the door behind her. They brought the jars to her and she poured the oil into them. ⁶ When all the jars were full, she said to one of her sons, ‘Bring me another jar.’ But he said, ‘There are no more jars.’ Then there was no more olive oil to pour from her jar.

⁷ Then the widow went back to Elisha, the man of God. She told him what had happened. He said, ‘Go and sell the oil. Use some of the money to pay the debt to the man. Use the money that remains to buy food for you and your sons. Then you will live.’

Elisha gives life to a boy

⁸ One day, Elisha went to Shunem. A rich woman lived there. She asked Elisha to eat a meal with her family. So every time that he went near her house, he stopped there to eat a meal. ⁹ Then the woman said to her husband, ‘Listen! I believe that this man who often eats with us is a holy man who serves God. ¹⁰ We should make a small room on the roof of our house for him.^[a] We can put a bed, a table, a chair and a lamp in the room. Then, when he comes to visit us, he can stay there.’

¹¹ One day, Elisha came to Shunem again. He went up to the room on the roof. He lay down to rest there. ¹² He told Gehazi, his servant, ‘Ask the woman to come here.’ So Gehazi did that. The woman came and she stood in front of Elisha. ¹³ Elisha said to Gehazi, ‘Say to her, “You have done a lot to take care of us. So what can we do for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king, or to the officer who leads the army?” ’ The woman replied, ‘I live here safely among my own people.’ ¹⁴ But Elisha asked Gehazi again, ‘What can we do to help her?’ Gehazi said, ‘She has no son. But her husband is an old man.’ ¹⁵ Elisha said, ‘Ask her to come here.’ When Gehazi did that, she came and she stood near the door. ¹⁶ Elisha said to her, ‘About this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms.’ The woman said, ‘No, my master! You are a man of God. Please do not tell me lies.’

¹⁷ But the woman did become pregnant. At that time next year she gave birth to a son. Elisha had said that this would happen.

¹⁸ One day, when the child was older, he went out to see his father. His father was working in a field with his men at harvest time. ¹⁹ He said to his father, ‘My head is hurting! Yes, it hurts!’ His father said to a servant, ‘Carry the boy to his mother.’ ²⁰ So the servant lifted him up and he carried him to his mother. The boy sat on his mother's knees until midday. Then he died. ²¹ She took the boy upstairs and she put him on the bed of the man of God. Then she went out of the room and she shut the door. ²² She sent a message to her husband. She said, ‘Send to me one of the servants with one of the donkeys. I must go quickly to see the man of God and then I will return.’ ²³ Her husband asked, ‘Why do you want to go and see him today? It is not a special day with a new moon. It is not a Sabbath day.’ She said, ‘All is well.’ ²⁴ Then she prepared the donkey. She said to her servant, ‘You go ahead and lead! Go as fast as you can unless I say, “Go more slowly.” ’

²⁵ So the woman went to see Elisha, the man of God, at Mount Carmel. Elisha saw her when she was a long way away. He said to his servant Gehazi, ‘Look! There is the woman from Shunem! ²⁶ Run to meet her. Ask her, “Are you well? Is your husband well? Is your son well?” ’ The woman replied, ‘All is well.’ ²⁷ But when she reached the man of God at Mount Carmel, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came to push her away. But the man of God said, ‘Leave her alone. She is very upset. But the Lord has hidden the reason from me. He did not tell me about her problem.’

²⁸ The woman said, ‘My master, I did not ask you for a son, did I? I told you not to tell me lies. ’

²⁹ Elisha said to Gehazi, ‘Tie your belt around you. Prepare to travel! Take my stick with you and run there quickly. If you meet anyone, do not stop to speak. If anyone speaks to you, do not stop to answer them. When you get there, put my stick on the boy's face.’ ³⁰ But the child's mother said, ‘I promise you, as surely as the Lord lives and you live, I will not leave you.’ So Elisha got up and he went back to Shunem with her.

³¹ Gehazi ran ahead and he arrived before they did. He put Elisha's stick on the boy's face. But the boy did not move or make any sound. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha. He said to him, ‘The boy did not wake up.’

³² When Elisha arrived at the house, the boy was lying on the bed. He saw that the boy was dead. ³³ Elisha went into the room by himself. He shut the door. Elisha prayed to the Lord. ³⁴ Then he got onto the bed and he lay across the boy. He put his mouth on the boy's mouth. He put his eyes over the boy's eyes. He put his hands on the boy's hands. When he lay across the boy's body, it became warm.

³⁵ Elisha went away from the bed. He walked round the room a few times. Then he got onto the bed again. He lay down across the boy. The boy sneezed seven times and then he opened his eyes.^{[b] 36} Then Elisha called Gehazi to come to him. He said, ‘Tell the boy's mother to come here.’ Gehazi did that. When the woman came, Elisha said to her, ‘Take your son.’ ³⁷ She came in to the room. She bent down low near Elisha's feet with her face towards the ground. Then she took her son and she left the room.

Elisha does some more miracles

³⁸ After that, Elisha went back to Gilgal. There was a famine in that region. The group of prophets came to meet with Elisha. He said to his servant, ‘Put the large pot over the fire. Cook some soup for the prophets.’ ³⁹ One of the prophets went out into the fields to get some herbs to put in the soup. He found a wild plant and he picked some of its fruits. He filled the pockets of his coat with them. He brought the fruits back with him and he cut them into pieces. He put the pieces into the pot of soup. But he did not know what they were.

⁴⁰ They poured out the soup for the men to eat. But when they started to eat it, they shouted, ‘Man of God, this soup will kill us!’ They could not eat it. ⁴¹ Then Elisha said, ‘Bring some flour.’ He put the flour into the pot. He said, ‘Now pour out some more soup for the people to eat.’ Then there was nothing in the soup that would hurt them.

⁴² One day, a man came from Baal Shalishah. He brought 20 bread loaves for the man of God. The flour for the bread was made from the first barley that he had picked at harvest time. He also brought some fresh grain. Elisha said, ‘Give this food to the people to eat.’ ⁴³ But his servant said, ‘There is not enough food here to feed 100 men!’ Elisha said, ‘Give it to the people for them to eat. Do it, because the Lord says, “They will all eat as much as they want. There will even be some food left.” ’ ⁴⁴ So the servant gave the bread to the prophets to eat. They ate as much as they wanted and some food still remained. The Lord had said that this would happen.

God makes Naaman well again

5 Naaman was the leader of the king of Syria's army. Naaman's master respected him as a great man. The Lord had used Naaman to help Syria win wars against their enemies. Naaman was a brave soldier, but he had a bad disease of his skin.^[c]

² Groups of soldiers from Syria had gone to attack places in Israel. They had caught a young girl as their prisoner. She became a servant of Naaman's wife. ³ One day, the girl said to her master's wife, ‘I would like my master Naaman to meet the prophet who is in Samaria. The prophet would take away his disease.’

⁴ So Naaman went to see his master, the king of Syria. He told him what the girl from Israel had said. ⁵ The king of Syria replied, ‘Go to meet this prophet! I will send a letter to the king of Israel.’ So Naaman went to Israel. He took with him 30,000 pieces of silver, 6,000 pieces of gold, and 10 sets of clothes. ⁶ He also took the letter for the king of Israel. The message from the king of Syria said, ‘I am sending my servant Naaman to you, with this letter. I want you to take away the disease of his skin.’

⁷ When the king of Israel read the letter, he was very upset. He tore his clothes. He said, ‘I am not God, am I? I cannot kill people or make them alive again. Why does he think that I can make this man well again? I see that he is trying to start a fight with me.’

⁸ Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes. So he sent this message to him: ‘You did not have to tear your clothes. Tell the man from Syria to come to me. Then he will know that there is a true prophet in Israel.’

⁹ So Naaman went to see Elisha. He took with him his horses and his chariots. He stood outside the door of Elisha's house. ¹⁰ Elisha sent his servant with a message to Naaman. He said, ‘Go to the Jordan River. Wash yourself seven times in the river. Then your skin will be clean again. You will not have the disease.’

¹¹ But Naaman was angry and he went away. He said, ‘I thought that the prophet would come out of his house to see me. Then he would stand here with me. He would pray in the name of the Lord his God. Then he would move his hand over the bad place in my skin. After that my skin would be clean again. That is what I thought he would do. ¹² The Abana and Pharpar rivers in Damascus are better than any of the rivers in Israel. Surely, I could wash in those rivers and become clean!’ So Naaman turned around and he went away. He was very angry.

¹³ But Naaman's servants went to him. One of them said, ‘My master, the prophet might have asked you to do something very difficult. Then you surely would have done it! Now he says to you, “Wash yourself! Then you will be clean.” That is much easier for you to do.’

¹⁴ So Naaman went down to the Jordan River. He washed himself in it seven times, as the man of God had told him to do. Naaman's skin became well again. It became as clean as a young child's skin.

¹⁵ Then Naaman and all his servants went back to see Elisha, the man of God. Naaman stood in front of him and he said, ‘Now I know that there is no God in the whole world except the one in Israel. Please accept a gift from me, your servant.’ ¹⁶ But Elisha replied, ‘I serve the Lord. I promise you, as surely as he lives, I will not accept a gift from you.’ Naaman asked him many times to accept a gift but Elisha refused.

¹⁷ So Naaman said, ‘So, you will not accept my gift. But please agree to let me take home some soil from here. I will take as much soil as two mules can carry. Then I will never again make any sacrifices or burnt offerings to any other god. I will only worship the Lord. ¹⁸ But I pray that the Lord will forgive me, your servant, when I do this one thing: My master, the king of Syria, often goes into the temple of our god, Rimmon. When he bends down low to worship Rimmon, he takes hold of my arm. So I also have to bend down low with him. I ask the Lord to forgive me when I do that.’

¹⁹ Elisha said to Naaman, ‘Go home with peace in your mind.’ Then Naaman started on his way home.

²⁰ Elisha's servant, Gehazi, thought, ‘My master did not accept the gifts that Naaman offered to him. He made it too easy for that Syrian man. As surely as the Lord lives, I will run after him. I will accept a gift from him.’ ²¹ So Gehazi ran quickly after Naaman before he had gone very far. Naaman saw that a man was running after him. So he got down from his chariot to meet him. Naaman asked Gehazi, ‘Is everything well?’ ²² Gehazi answered, ‘Everything is well. My master sent me with this message: “Two young men from the group of prophets have just arrived at my house. They have come from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them 3,000 pieces of silver and two sets of clothes.” ’

²³ Naaman said, ‘Yes, I will. But please agree to take 6,000 pieces of silver.’ He asked Gehazi to accept them. He put the 6,000 pieces of silver into two bags, as well as two sets of clothes. He gave them to two of his servants and they carried them in front of Gehazi. ²⁴ When Gehazi reached a hill near Elisha's house, he took the things from the servants. He put them in his own room. He told the servants to go back to Naaman.

²⁵ Gehazi went in and he stood in front of his master. Elisha asked Gehazi, ‘Where have you been?’ Gehazi answered, ‘I have not been anywhere, sir.’ ²⁶ But Elisha said to him, ‘My spirit was with you when you went out. It was there when the man came down from his chariot to meet you. This is not the proper time to accept gifts of money, clothes, olive trees, vineyards, sheep, cows or servants. ²⁷ Now you will have the same disease in your skin that Naaman had! It will always be with you and your descendants.’

Then Gehazi went away from Elisha. His skin had already become white like snow because of the disease.

Another miracle that Elisha did

6 One day, the group of prophets said to Elisha, ‘The place where we meet with you is too small for us. ² We must go to the Jordan River to cut down some trees. Each one of us can bring back some wood to build a new place for us to meet in.’ Elisha agreed and he told them to go.

³ One of the prophets said, ‘Please come with us, sir.’ Elisha replied, ‘I will come with you.’ ⁴ So he went with them. They arrived at the Jordan River. They started to cut down some trees. ⁵ While one of them was cutting down a tree, his iron axe fell into the water. He shouted, ‘Oh! My master! The axe did not belong to me!’ ⁶ Elisha asked him, ‘Where did it fall in the water?’ He showed Elisha the place. Then Elisha cut a branch from a tree. He threw it in the water at that place. It caused the iron axe to come to the top of the water. ⁷ Elisha told the prophet, ‘Lift it out of the water.’ So the man took hold of it with his hand.

Elisha stops the Syrian army

⁸ There was a war between the king of Syria and Israel. The king of Syria talked with his officers. He said to them, ‘I will attack Israel at a certain place.’ ⁹ But Elisha, the man of God, sent a message to the king of Israel. He said, ‘Do not travel through that place. The Syrian army is going there to attack us.’ ¹⁰ So the king of Israel warned the people in that place to be careful. Several times Elisha told the king where the Syrian army would attack so that the king would be careful.

¹¹ This made the king of Syria very angry. He asked his officers to come to him. He said to them, ‘One of you is helping the king of Israel. Who is it?’ ¹² One of his officers said, ‘None of us is helping him, my master the king. There is a prophet who lives in Israel. His name is Elisha. He tells the king of Israel every word that you speak secretly, even what you say in your bedroom!’ ¹³ The king of Syria said, ‘Go and find the place where he is. Then I will send some men there to catch him.’

A report came back to the king of Syria, ‘Elisha is in Dothan.’ ¹⁴ So the king sent a big army of soldiers there, with horses and chariots. They arrived during the night and they made their camp all around the city.

¹⁵ The servant of Elisha, the man of God, got up early the next morning. He went out and he saw an army with horses and chariots all around the city. He said to Elisha, ‘Oh! My master! What can we do?’ ¹⁶ Elisha replied, ‘Do not be afraid. There are more men to fight for us than there are for them.’ ¹⁷ Then Elisha prayed, ‘Lord, please open my servant's eyes so that he can see clearly.’ The Lord opened the servant's eyes. Now he could see lots of horses and chariots that burned with fire. They were on the hill all around Elisha.

¹⁸ When the enemy soldiers came towards Elisha, he prayed, ‘Lord, please make these people become blind.’ The Lord did what Elisha had asked. He made the enemy soldiers become blind. ¹⁹ Elisha said to them, ‘You are on the wrong road. You have come to the wrong city. Follow me! I will lead you to the man that you are looking for.’ Elisha led them to Samaria.

²⁰ After they had gone into the city of Samaria, Elisha prayed again, ‘Lord, please open the eyes of these men so that they can see again.’ The Lord opened their eyes. Now they could see that they were in the middle of Samaria! ²¹ When the king of Israel saw the Syrian army in his city, he asked Elisha, ‘My master, what should I do? Should I kill them?’ ²² Elisha answered, ‘You must not kill them. That would not be right. You did not win a fight against them with your weapons. Give them some food and water. Then they can eat and drink before they go back to their master.’

²³ So the king of Israel made a big feast for them. They had a lot of food and drink. Then he sent them back to their master, the king of Syria. After this happened, no more groups of Syrian soldiers came to attack Israel.

The Syrian army attacks Samaria

²⁴ But later, King Ben-Hadad of Syria sent his whole army to attack Samaria. His soldiers made their camp all around the city. ²⁵ As a result, there was a famine in the city. The Syrian army were all around the city for a long time. Food in the city was very expensive. A donkey's head cost 80 pieces of silver. A small cup of dove's dung cost five pieces of silver.^[d]

²⁶ While the king of Israel was walking on the wall of the city, a woman shouted to him, ‘Please help me, my master the king!’ ²⁷ The king replied, ‘Why do you ask me? Only the Lord can help you. I have no wheat or wine to give you.’ ²⁸ Then the king asked her, ‘What is your problem?’ She answered, ‘This woman here said to me, “Let us take your son today, so that we can eat him. Tomorrow we will eat my son.” ²⁹ So we cooked my son and we ate him. The next day I said to her, “Now we will take your son, so that we can eat him.” But she has hidden him somewhere!’

³⁰ When the king heard the woman's words, he was very upset. He tore his clothes. As he walked along the wall, people could see what he was wearing. They saw that he was wearing sackcloth under his other clothes.^{[e] 31} He said, ‘I will certainly cut off Elisha's head today! May God punish me with death if Elisha still has his head by the end of the day!’

³² Elisha was sitting in his house. The leaders of the city were with him. The king sent a man to Elisha with a message. But before he arrived, Elisha said to the leaders, ‘I tell you this. That murderer, the king, has sent someone to cut off my head. When the king's man arrives, shut the door. Stop him from coming in here. We will soon hear the sound of his master as he arrives too.’

³³ While Elisha was still talking to the city's leaders, the king's man arrived with this message: ‘The Lord has caused this terrible trouble to happen to us. I cannot wait any longer for the Lord to help us.’^[f]

Jesus appears to the group

³⁶ While they were still speaking like that, Jesus himself stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’

³⁷ But the whole group was very surprised and afraid. They thought that they were seeing a spirit. ³⁸ Jesus said to them, ‘You should not be so afraid. You seem to have trouble in your minds about what you are seeing. ³⁹ Now look at my hands and my feet. It is really me! Touch me. Then you will know that I am not a spirit. A spirit does not have a body with skin and bones. You can see that I have a real body.’

⁴⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹ This was such good news, they were very happy. But they could still not really believe it. So he asked them, ‘Do you have anything that I could eat?’ ⁴² They gave him a piece of fish that they had cooked. ⁴³ While they were watching, he took it and he ate it.

⁴⁴ Then he said to them, ‘I told you about these things while I was still with you. Everything that God's servants wrote about me in the Bible had to happen. Moses wrote about me in his book of God's Law. The prophets also wrote about me. The book called Psalms also tells about me. And now it has become true.’

⁴⁵ Then he helped them to understand God's message in the Bible. ⁴⁶ He told them, ‘This is what it says there: The Messiah had to die. Then, after three days, he had to rise up and become alive again. ⁴⁷ People in every country of the world must hear God's message. They must stop doing wrong things and change how they live. When they do this, God will forgive them. He will forgive all the bad things that they have done. People need to tell this message about the Messiah in Jerusalem first, then tell people in other countries. ⁴⁸ You are the people who have seen what has happened here. You must tell other people about it. ⁴⁹ Now listen! I will send to you the gift that God my Father has promised to give to you. You must stay here in the city until this happens. Then the power of God will come from heaven and it will cover you.’

Jesus goes up to God in heaven

⁵⁰ Then Jesus led the group of his disciples out of the city. They all went to a place near the village called Bethany. He held up his hands towards them all. He asked God to be good to them. ⁵¹ While he was praying for them like that, he went up away from them. God lifted him up to heaven. ⁵² The disciples praised Jesus for his great power. Then they returned to Jerusalem and they were all very happy. ⁵³ All the time they were in the temple and they were praising God.