2 Kings 4
4
Elisha Provides Olive Oil for a Widow
1The wife of a man from the group of the prophets cried out to Elisha. She said, “My husband is dead. You know how much respect he had for the Lord. But he owed money to someone. And now that person is coming to take my two boys away. They will become his slaves.”
2Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me. What do you have in your house?”
“I don’t have anything there at all,” she said. “All I have is a small jar of olive oil.”
3Elisha said, “Go around to all your neighbors. Ask them for empty jars. Get as many as you can. 4Then go inside your house. Shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars. As each jar is filled, put it over to one side.”
5The woman left him. Then she shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her. And she kept pouring. 6When all the jars were full, she spoke to one of her sons. She said, “Bring me another jar.”
But he replied, “There aren’t any more left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.
7She went and told the man of God about it. He said, “Go and sell the oil. Pay what you owe. You and your sons can live on what is left.”
The Son of a Woman From Shunem Is Brought Back to Life
8One day Elisha went to the town of Shunem. A rich woman lived there. She begged him to stay and have a meal. So every time he came by, he stopped there to eat. 9The woman said to her husband, “That man often comes by here. I know that he is a holy man of God. 10Let’s make a small room for him on the roof. We’ll put a bed and a table in it. We’ll also put a chair and a lamp in it. Then he can stay there when he comes to visit us.”
11One day Elisha came. He went up to his room and lay down there. 12He said to his servant Gehazi, “Go and get the woman from Shunem.” So he did. She stood in front of Elisha. 13He said to Gehazi, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to a lot of trouble for us. Now what can we do for you? Can we speak to the king for you? Or can we speak to the commander of the army for you?’ ”
She replied, “I live among my own people. I have everything I need here.”
14After she left, Elisha asked Gehazi, “What can we do for her?”
Gehazi said, “She doesn’t have a son. And her husband is old.”
15Then Elisha said, “Bring her here again.” So he did. She stood in the doorway. 16“You will hold a son in your arms,” Elisha said. “It will be about this time next year.”
“No, my master!” she objected. “You are a man of God. So please don’t lie to me!”
17But the woman became pregnant. She had a baby boy. It happened the next year about that same time. That’s exactly what Elisha had told her would happen.
18The child grew. One day he went out to get his father. His father was with the people who were gathering the crops. 19The boy said to his father, “My head hurts! It really hurts!”
His father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20The servant lifted up the boy. He carried him to his mother. The boy sat on her lap until noon. Then he died. 21She went up to the room on the roof. There she laid him on the bed of the man of God. Then she shut the door and went out.
22She sent for her husband. She said, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey. Then I can go quickly to the man of God and return.”
23“Why do you want to go to him today?” he asked. “It isn’t the time for the New Moon feast. It isn’t the Sabbath day.”
“Don’t let that bother you,” she said.
24She put a saddle on her donkey. She said to her servant, “Let’s go. Don’t slow down for me unless I tell you to.” 25So she started out. She came to Mount Carmel. That’s where the man of God was.
When she was still a long way off, he saw her coming. He said to his servant Gehazi, “Look! There’s the woman from Shunem! 26Run out there to meet her. Ask her, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’ ”
“Everything is all right,” she said.
27She came to the man of God at the mountain. Then she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away. But the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is suffering terribly. But the Lord hasn’t told me the reason for it. He has hidden it from me.”
28“My master, did I ask you for a son?” she said. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t make me hope for something that won’t happen’?”
29Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your coat into your belt. Take my walking stick and run to Shunem. Don’t say hello to anyone you see. If anyone says hello to you, don’t answer. Lay my walking stick on the boy’s face.”
30But the child’s mother said, “I won’t leave you. And that’s just as sure as the Lord and you are alive.” So Elisha got up and followed her.
31Gehazi went on ahead. He laid Elisha’s walking stick on the boy’s face. But there wasn’t any sound. The boy didn’t move at all. So Gehazi went back to Elisha. He told him, “The boy hasn’t awakened.”
32Elisha arrived at the house. The boy was dead. He was lying on Elisha’s bed. 33Elisha went into the room. He shut the door. He was alone with the boy. He prayed to the Lord. 34Then Elisha got on the bed. He lay down on the boy. His mouth touched the boy’s mouth. His eyes touched the boy’s eyes. And his hands touched the boy’s hands. As Elisha lay on the boy, the boy’s body grew warm. 35Elisha turned away. He walked back and forth in the room. Then he got on the bed again. He lay down on the boy once more. The boy sneezed seven times. After that, he opened his eyes.
36Elisha sent for Gehazi. He said to him, “Go and get the woman from Shunem.” So he did. When she came, Elisha said, “Take your son.” 37She came in and fell at Elisha’s feet. She bowed down with her face toward the ground. Then she took her son and went out.
Deadly Food in a Pot
38Elisha returned to Gilgal. There wasn’t enough food to eat in that area. The group of the prophets was meeting with Elisha. So he said to his servant, “Put the large pot over the fire. Cook some stew for these prophets.”
39One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs. He found a wild vine and picked some of its gourds. He picked as many as he could fit in his coat. Then he cut them up and put them into the pot of stew. But no one knew what they were. 40The stew was poured out for the men. They began to eat it. But then they cried out, “Man of God, the food in that pot will kill us!” They couldn’t eat it.
41Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He put it in the pot. He said, “Serve it to the men to eat.” Then there wasn’t anything in the pot that could harm them.
Elisha Feeds 100 People
42A man came from Baal Shalishah. He brought the man of God 20 loaves of barley bread. They had been baked from the first grain that had ripened. The man also brought some heads of new grain. “Give this food to the people to eat,” Elisha said.
43“How can I put this in front of 100 men?” his servant asked.
But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. Do it because the Lord says, ‘They will eat and have some left over.’ ” 44Then the servant put the food in front of them. They ate it and had some left over. It happened just as the Lord had said it would.
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2 Kings 4: NIrV
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Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
2 Kings 4
4
1And a woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha saying, Thy servant my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant feared Jehovah; and the creditor is come to take my two children to be bondmen. 2And Elisha said to her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thy handmaid has not anything at all in the house but a pot of oil. 3And he said, Go, borrow for thyself vessels abroad from all thy neighbours, empty vessels; let it not be few; 4and go in, and shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and pour out into all those vessels, and set aside what is full. 5And she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons: they brought the vessels to her, and she poured out. 6And it came to pass when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said to her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. 7And she came and told the man of God#GodHebrew: Elohim and he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy sons on the rest.
8And it came to pass on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a wealthy woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. 9And she said to her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God#GodHebrew: Elohim who passes by us continually. 10Let us make, I pray thee, a small upper chamber with walls, and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a seat, and a lampstand; and it shall be when he cometh to us, he shall turn in thither. 11And it came to pass on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the upper chamber, and lay there. 12And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And he called her, and she stood before him. 13And he said to him, Say now to her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she said, I dwell among mine own people. 14And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi said, Verily, she has no son, and her husband is old. 15And he said, Call her; and he called her; and she stood in the doorway. 16And he said, At this appointed time, when thy term is come, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, No, my lord, man of God#GodHebrew: Elohim do not lie to thy handmaid. 17And the woman conceived, and bore a son at that appointed time in the next year as Elisha had said to her.
18And the child grew, and it came to pass one day, that he went out to his father to the reapers. 19And he said to his father, My head, my head! And he said to the servant, Carry him to his mother. 20And he carried him, and brought him to his mother; and he sat on her knees till noon, and died. 21And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God#GodHebrew: Elohim and shut the door upon him, and went out. 22And she called to her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, and I will run to the man of God#GodHebrew: Elohim and come again. 23And he said, Why wilt thou go to him to-day? It is neither new moon nor sabbath. And she said, It is well. 24Then she saddled the ass, and said to her servant, Drive and go forward; slack not the riding for me, except I bid thee. 25And she went and came to the man of God#GodHebrew: Elohim to mount Carmel. And it came to pass when the man of God#GodHebrew: Elohim saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, there is the Shunammite: 26run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she said, It is well. 27And she came to the man of God#GodHebrew: Elohim to the mountain, and caught him by the feet; and Gehazi drew near to thrust her away; but the man of God#GodHebrew: Elohim said, Let her alone, for her soul is troubled within her, and Jehovah has hidden it from me, and has not told me. 28And she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me? 29And he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thy hand, and go thy way. If thou meet any man, salute him not, and if any salute thee, answer him not again; and lay my staff upon the face of the lad. 30And the mother of the lad said, As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee! And he rose up and followed her. 31And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the lad; but there was neither voice, nor sign of attention. And he returned to meet him, and told him saying, The lad is not awaked. 32And when Elisha came into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed. 33And he went in and shut the door upon them both, and prayed to Jehovah. 34And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands, and bent over him; and the flesh of the child grew warm. 35And he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and bent over him. And the lad sneezed seven times, and the lad opened his eyes. 36And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. And he called her; and she came to him. And he said, Take up thy son. 37And she came and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; and she took up her son, and went out.
38And Elisha came again to Gilgal. And there was a famine in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. And he said to his servant, Set on the great pot, and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets. 39Then one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered from it his lap full of wild colocynths, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage; for they did not know them. 40And they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out and said, Man of God#GodHebrew: Elohim there is death in the pot! And they could not eat it. 41And he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot, and said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot. 42And there came a man from Baal-shalishah, and brought the man of God#GodHebrew: Elohim bread of the first-fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of corn in his sack. And he said, Give to the people that they may eat. 43And his attendant said, How shall I set this before a hundred men? And he said, Give the people that they may eat; for thus saith Jehovah: They shall eat, and shall have to spare. 44And he set it before them, and they ate and left thereof, according to the word of Jehovah.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.