Old/New Testament
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.
5 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, accepted [and acceptable], because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.
2 The Syrians had gone out in bands and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she waited on Naaman’s wife.
3 She said to her mistress, Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.
4 [Naaman] went in and told his king, Thus and thus said the maid from Israel.
5 And the king of Syria said, Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. And he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, 6,000 shekels of gold, and ten changes of raiment.
6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel. It said, When this letter comes to you, I will with it have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of leprosy.
7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he rent his clothes and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends to me to heal a man of his leprosy? Just consider and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.
8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, he sent to the king, asking, Why have you rent your clothes? Let Naaman come now to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stopped at Elisha’s door.
10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.
11 But Naaman was angry and went away and said, Behold, I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and heal the leper.
12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.
13 And his servants came near and said to him, My father, if the prophet had bid you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather, then, when he says to you, Wash and be clean?
14 Then he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, as the man of God had said, and his flesh was restored like that of a little child, and he was clean.
15 Then Naaman returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and stood before him. He said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel. So now accept a gift from your servant.
16 Elisha said, As the Lord lives, before Whom I stand, I will accept none. He urged him to take it, but Elisha refused.
17 Naaman said, Then, I pray you, let there be given to me, your servant, two mules’ burden of earth. For your servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice to other gods, but only to the Lord.
18 In this thing may the Lord pardon your servant: when my master [the king] goes into the house of [his god] Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant in this thing.
19 Elisha said to him, Go in peace. So Naaman departed from him a little way.
20 But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not receiving from his hands what he brought. But as the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.
21 So Gehazi followed after Naaman. When Naaman saw one running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him and said, Is all well?
22 And he said, All is well. My master has sent me to say, There have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets. I pray you, give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments.
23 And Naaman said, Be pleased to take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of garments and laid them upon two of his servants, and they bore them before Gehazi.
24 When he came to the hill, he took them from their hands and put them in the house; and he sent the men away, and they left.
25 He went in and stood before his master. Elisha said, Where have you been, Gehazi? He said, Your servant went nowhere.
26 Elisha said to him, Did not my spirit go with you when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Was it a time to accept money, garments, olive orchards, vineyards, sheep, oxen, menservants, and maidservants?
27 Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cleave to you and to your offspring forever. And Gehazi went from his presence a leper as white as snow.
6 The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, Look now, the place where we live before you is too small for us.
2 Let us go to the Jordan, and each man get there a [house] beam; and let us make us a place there where we may dwell. And he answered, Go.
3 One said, Be pleased to go with your servants. He answered, I will go.
4 So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees.
5 But as one was felling his beam, the axhead fell into the water; and he cried, Alas, my master, for it was borrowed!
6 The man of God said, Where did it fall? When shown the place, Elisha cut off a stick and threw it in there, and the iron floated.
7 He said, Pick it up. And he put out his hand and took it.
8 When the king of Syria was warring against Israel, after counseling with his servants, he said, In such and such a place shall be my camp.
9 Then the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, Beware that you pass not such a place, for the Syrians are coming down there.
10 Then the king of Israel sent to the place of which [Elisha] told and warned him; and thus he protected and saved himself there repeatedly.
11 Therefore the mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing. He called his servants and said, Will you show me who of us is for the king of Israel?
12 One of his servants said, None, my lord O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber.
13 He said, Go and see where he is, that I may send and seize him. And it was told him, He is in Dothan.
14 So [the Syrian king] sent there horses, chariots, and a great army. They came by night and surrounded the city.
15 When the servant of the man of God rose early and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was around the city. Elisha’s servant said to him, Alas, my master! What shall we do?
16 [Elisha] answered, Fear not; for those with us are more than those with them.
17 Then Elisha prayed, Lord, I pray You, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
18 And when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, Smite this people with blindness, I pray You. And God smote them with blindness, as Elisha asked.
19 Elisha said to the Syrians, This is not the way or the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek. And he led them to Samaria.
20 And when they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of these men that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw. Behold, they were in the midst of Samaria!
21 When the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, My father, shall I slay them? Shall I slay them?
22 [Elisha] answered, You shall not slay them. Would you slay those you have taken captive with your sword and bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and return to their master.
23 So [the king] prepared great provision for them, and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.
24 Afterward, Ben-hadad king of Syria gathered his whole army and went up and besieged Samaria,
25 And a great famine came to Samaria. They besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung [a wild vegetable] for five shekels of silver.
26 As the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, a woman cried to him, Help, my lord, O king!
27 He said, [For] if he does not help you [No, let the Lord help you!], from where can I get you help? Out of the threshing floor, or out of the winepress?
28 And the king said to her, What ails you? She answered, This woman said to me, Give me your son so we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.
29 So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, Give your son so we may eat him, but she had hidden her son.
30 When the king heard the woman’s words, he rent his clothes. As he went on upon the wall, the people looked, and behold, he wore sackcloth inside on his flesh.
31 Then he said, May God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day!
32 Now Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him. And the king sent a man from before him [to behead Elisha]. But before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, See how this son of [Jezebel] a murderer is sending to remove my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it fast against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet [just] behind him?
33 And while Elisha was talking with them, behold, [the messenger] came to him [and then the king came also]. And [the relenting king] said, This evil is from the Lord! Why should I any longer wait [expecting Him to withdraw His punishment? What, Elisha, can be done now]?
36 Now while they were talking about this, Jesus Himself took His stand among them and said to them, Peace ([a]freedom from all the distresses that are experienced as the result of sin) be to you!
37 But they were so startled and terrified that they thought they saw a spirit.
38 And He said to them, Why are you disturbed and troubled, and why do such doubts and questionings arise in your hearts?
39 See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself! Feel and handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.
40 And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.
41 And while [since] they still could not believe it for sheer joy and marveled, He said to them, Have you anything here to eat?
42 They gave Him a piece of broiled fish,
43 And He took [it] and ate [it] before them.
44 Then He said to them, This is what I told you while I was still with you: everything which is written concerning Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.
45 Then He [thoroughly] opened up their minds to understand the Scriptures,
46 And said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ (the Messiah) should suffer and on the third day rise from ([b] among) the dead,(A)
47 And that repentance [with a view to and as the condition of] forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
48 You are witnesses of these things.
49 And behold, I will send forth upon you what My Father has promised; but remain in the city [Jerusalem] until you are clothed with power from on high.
50 Then He conducted them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up His hands, He invoked a blessing on them.
51 And it occurred that while He was blessing them, He parted from them and was taken up into heaven.
52 And they, worshiping Him, went back to Jerusalem with great joy;
53 And they were continually in the temple celebrating with praises and blessing and extolling God. Amen (so be it).
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation