2 Kings 4
4
A poor widow
1Now there was a woman who had been married to a member of a group of prophets. She appealed to Elisha, saying, “My husband, your servant, is dead. You know how he feared the LORD. But now someone he owed money to has come to take my two children away as slaves.”
2Elisha said to her, “What can I do for you? Tell me what you still have left in the house.”
She said, “Your servant has nothing at all in the house except a small jar of oil.”
3He said, “Go out and borrow containers from all your neighbors. Get as many empty containers as possible. 4Then go in and close the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all those containers. Set each one aside when it’s full.”
5She left Elisha and closed the door behind her and her sons. They brought her containers as she kept on pouring. 6When she had filled the containers, she said to her son, “Bring me another container.”
He said to her, “There aren’t any more.” Then the oil stopped flowing, 7and she reported this to the man of God.
He said, “Go! Sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what remains.”
A rich woman
8One day Elisha went to Shunem. A rich woman lived there. She urged him to eat something, so whenever he passed by, he would stop in to eat some food. 9She said to her husband, “Look, I know that he is a holy man of God and he passes by regularly. 10Let’s make a small room on the roof. We’ll set up a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp for him there. Then when he comes to us, he can stay there.”
11So one day Elisha came there, headed to the room on the roof, and lay down. 12He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call this Shunammite woman.” Gehazi called her, and she stood before him. 13Elisha then said to Gehazi, “Say to her, ‘Look, you’ve gone to all this trouble for us. What can I do for you? Is there anything I can say on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?’”
She said, “I’m content to live at home with my own people.”
14Elisha asked, “So what can be done for her?”
Gehazi said, “Well, she doesn’t have a son, and her husband is old.”
15Elisha said, “Call her.” So Gehazi called her, and she stood at the door. 16Elisha said, “About this time next year, you will be holding a son in your arms.”
But she said, “No, man of God, sir; don’t lie to your servant.”
17But the woman conceived and gave birth to a son at about the same time the next year. This was what Elisha had promised her.
18The child grew up. One day he ran to his father, who was with the harvest workers. 19He said to his father, “Oh, my head! My head!”
The father said to a young man, “Carry him to his mother.” 20So he picked up the boy and brought him to his mother.
The boy sat on her lap until noon. Then he died. 21She went up and laid him down on the bed for the man of God. Then she went out and closed the door. 22She called her husband and said, “Send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys so that I can hurry to the man of God and come back.”
23Her husband said, “Why are you going to him today? It’s not a new moon or sabbath.”
She said, “Don’t worry about it.” 24She saddled the donkey, then said to her young servant, “Drive the donkey hard. Don’t let me slow down unless I tell you.” 25So she went off and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
As soon as the man of God saw her from a distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, it’s the Shunammite woman! 26Run out to meet her and ask her, ‘Are things okay with you, your husband, and your child?’”
She said, “Things are okay.”
27When she got to the man of God at the mountain, she grabbed his feet. Gehazi came up to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is distraught, but the LORD has hidden the reason from me and hasn’t told me why.”
28She said, “Did I ask you for a son, sir? Didn’t I say, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?”
29Elisha said to Gehazi, “Get ready, take my staff, and go! If you encounter anyone, don’t stop to greet them. If anyone greets you, don’t reply. Put my staff on the boy’s face.”
30But the boy’s mother said, “I swear by your life and by the LORD’s life, I won’t leave you!” So Elisha got up and followed her.
31Gehazi went on ahead of them. He set the staff on the young boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So he went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy didn’t wake up.”
32Elisha came into the house and saw the boy lying dead on his bed. 33He went in and closed the door behind the two of them. Then he prayed to the LORD. 34He got up on the bed and lay down on top of the child, putting his mouth on the boy’s mouth, his eyes on the boy’s eyes, his hands on the boy’s hands. And as he bent over him, the child’s skin grew warm. 35Then Elisha got down and paced back and forth in the house. Once again he got up on the bed and bent over the boy, at which point the boy sneezed#4.35 Or gasped; Heb uncertain seven times and opened his eyes. 36Elisha called for Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” Gehazi called her, and she came to Elisha. He told her, “Pick up your son.” 37She came and fell at his feet, facedown on the ground. Then she picked up her son and left.
Miracles with food
38When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. A group of prophets was sitting before him. He said to his servant, “Put on the big pot and cook some stew for the prophets.” 39So one of them went out to the field to gather plants; he found a wild vine and gathered wild gourds from it, filling his garment. He came and cut them up into the pot of stew, but no one knew what they were.
40The stew was served to the men, but as they started to eat it, they cried out and said, “There is death in that pot, man of God!” They couldn’t eat it.
41Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Serve the people so they can eat.” At that point, there was nothing bad left in the pot.
42A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God some bread from the early produce—twenty loaves of barley bread and fresh grain from his bag.#4.42 Or still on its stem Elisha said, “Give it to the people so they can eat.”
43His servant said, “How can I feed one hundred men with this?”
Elisha said, “Give it to the people so they can eat! This is what the LORD says: ‘Eat and there will be leftovers.’” 44So the servant gave the food to them. They ate and had leftovers, in agreement with the LORD’s word.
Currently Selected:
2 Kings 4: CEB
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
2 Kings 4
4
Elisha Helps a Poor Widow
1The widow of a member of a group of prophets went to Elisha and said, “Sir, my husband has died! As you know, he was a God-fearing man, but now a man he owed money to has come to take away my two sons as slaves in payment for my husband's debt.”
2“What shall I do for you?” he asked. “Tell me, what have you got at home?”
“Nothing at all, except a small jar of olive oil,” she answered.
3“Go to your neighbours and borrow as many empty jars as you can,” Elisha told her. 4“Then you and your sons go into the house, close the door, and start pouring oil into the jars. Set each one aside as soon as it is full.”
5So the woman went into her house with her sons, closed the door, took the small jar of olive oil, and poured oil into the jars as her sons brought them to her. 6When they had filled all the jars, she asked if there were any more. “That was the last one,” one of her sons answered. And the olive oil stopped flowing. 7She went back to Elisha, the prophet, who said to her, “Sell the olive oil and pay all your debts, and there will be enough money left over for you and your sons to live on.”
Elisha and the Rich Woman from Shunem
8One day Elisha went to Shunem, where a rich woman lived. She invited him to a meal, and from then on every time he went to Shunem he would have his meals at her house. 9She said to her husband, “I am sure that this man who comes here so often is a holy man. 10Let's build a small room on the roof, put a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp in it, and he can stay there whenever he visits us.”
11One day Elisha returned to Shunem and went up to his room to rest. 12He told his servant Gehazi to go and call the woman. When she came, 13he said to Gehazi, “Ask her what I can do for her in return for all the trouble she has had in providing for our needs. Maybe she would like me to go to the king or the army commander and put in a good word for her.”
“I have all I need here among my own people,” she answered.
14Elisha asked Gehazi, “What can I do for her then?”
He answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is an old man.”
15“Tell her to come here,” Elisha ordered. She came and stood in the doorway, 16#Gen 18.14and Elisha said to her, “By this time next year you will be holding a son in your arms.”
“Oh!” she exclaimed. “Please, sir, don't lie to me. You are a man of God!”
17But, as Elisha had said, at about that time the following year she gave birth to a son.
18Some years later, at harvest time, the boy went out one morning to join his father, who was in the field with the harvest workers. 19Suddenly he cried out to his father, “My head hurts! My head hurts!”
“Carry the boy to his mother,” the father said to a servant. 20The servant carried the boy back to his mother, who held him in her lap until noon, at which time he died. 21She carried him up to Elisha's room, put him on the bed and left, closing the door behind her. 22Then she called her husband and said to him, “Send a servant here with a donkey. I need to go to the prophet Elisha. I'll be back as soon as I can.”
23“Why do you have to go today?” her husband asked. “It's neither a Sabbath nor a New Moon Festival.”#4.23 Sabbath… New Moon Festival: Such holy days were thought to be the best time to consult a prophet.
“Never mind,” she answered. 24Then she had the donkey saddled, and ordered the servant, “Make the donkey go as fast as it can, and don't slow down, unless I tell you to.” 25So she set out, and went to Mount Carmel, where Elisha was.
Elisha saw her coming while she was still some distance away, and said to his servant Gehazi, “Look — there comes the woman from Shunem! 26Hurry to her and find out if everything is all right with her, her husband, and her son.”
She told Gehazi that everything was all right, 27but when she came to Elisha she bowed down before him and took hold of his feet. Gehazi was about to push her away, but Elisha said, “Leave her alone. Can't you see she's deeply distressed? And the LORD has not told me a thing about it.”
28The woman said to him, “Sir, did I ask you for a son? Didn't I tell you not to raise my hopes?”
29Elisha turned to Gehazi and said, “Hurry! Take my stick and go. Don't stop to greet anyone you meet, and if anyone greets you, don't take time to answer. Go straight to the house and hold my stick over the boy.”
30The woman said to Elisha, “I swear by my loyalty to the living LORD and to you that I will not leave you!” So the two of them started back together. 31Gehazi went on ahead and held Elisha's stick over the child, but there was no sound or any other sign of life. So he went back to meet Elisha and said, “The boy didn't wake up.”
32When Elisha arrived, he went alone into the room and saw the boy lying dead on the bed. 33He closed the door and prayed to the LORD. 34#1 Kgs 17.21Then he lay down on the boy, placing his mouth, eyes, and hands on the boy's mouth, eyes, and hands. As he lay stretched out over the boy, the boy's body started to get warm. 35Elisha got up, walked about the room, and then went back and again stretched himself over the boy. The boy sneezed seven times, and then opened his eyes. 36Elisha called Gehazi and told him to call the boy's mother. When she came in, he said to her, “Here's your son.” 37She fell at Elisha's feet, with her face touching the ground; then she took her son and left.
Two More Miracles
38Once, when there was a famine throughout the land, Elisha returned to Gilgal. While he was teaching a group of prophets, he told his servant to put a big pot on the fire and make some stew for them. 39One of them went out in the fields to get some herbs. He found a wild vine, and picked as many gourds as he could carry. He brought them back and sliced them up into the stew, not knowing what they were. 40The stew was poured out for the men to eat, but as soon as they tasted it they exclaimed to Elisha, “It's poisoned!” — and wouldn't eat it. 41Elisha asked for some meal, threw it into the pot, and said, “Pour out some more stew for them.” And then there was nothing wrong with it.
42Another time, a man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing Elisha twenty loaves of bread made from the first barley harvested that year, and some freshly-cut ears of corn. Elisha told his servant to feed the group of prophets with this, 43but he answered, “Do you think this is enough for a hundred men?”
Elisha replied, “Give it to them to eat, because the LORD says that they will eat and still have some left over.” 44So the servant set the food before them, and, as the LORD had said, they all ate and there was still some left over.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.