2 Kings 4
4
Elisha and the Widow’s Olive Oil
1One of the wives of a disciple of the prophets called to Elisha, “Sir, my husband is dead! You know how he feared the Lord. Now a creditor has come to take my two children as slaves.”
2Elisha asked her, “What should I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
She answered, “I have nothing in the house except a jar of olive oil.”
3Elisha said, “Borrow many empty containers from all your neighbors. 4Then close the door behind you and your children, and pour oil into all those containers. When one is full, set it aside.”
5So she left him and closed the door behind her and her children. The children kept bringing containers to her, and she kept pouring. 6When the containers were full, she told her son, “Bring me another container.”
He told her, “There are no more containers.” So the olive oil stopped flowing. 7She went and told the man of God.
He said, “Sell the oil, and pay your debt. The rest is for you and your children.”
Elisha Brings a Shunem Woman’s Son Back to Life
8One day Elisha was traveling through Shunem, where a rich woman lived. She had invited him to eat ⌞with her⌟. So whenever he was in the area, he stopped in to eat.
9She told her husband, “I know he’s a holy man of God. And he regularly travels past our house. 10Let’s make a small room on the roof and put a bed, table, chair, and lamp stand there for him. He can stay there whenever he comes to visit us.”
11One day he came ⌞to their house⌟, went into the upstairs room, and rested there. 12He told his servant Gehazi, “Call this Shunem woman.”
Gehazi called her, and she stood in front of him. 13Elisha said to Gehazi, “Ask her what we can do for her, since she has gone to a lot of trouble for us. Maybe she would like us to speak to the king or the commander of the army for her.”
She answered, “I’m already living among my own people.”
14“What should we do for her?” Elisha asked.
Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.”
15Elisha said, “Call her.” So Gehazi called her, and she stood in the doorway. 16Elisha said, “At this time next spring, you will hold a baby boy in your arms.”
She answered, “Don’t say that, sir. Don’t lie to me. You’re a man of God.”
17But the woman became pregnant and had a son at that time next year, as Elisha had told her.
18Several years later the boy went to his father, who was with the harvest workers. 19⌞Suddenly,⌟ he said to his father, “My head! My head!”
The father told his servant, “Carry him to his mother.”
20The servant picked him up and brought him to his mother. The boy sat on her lap until noon, when he died. 21She took him upstairs and laid him on the bed of the man of God, left ⌞the room⌟, and shut the door behind her. 22She called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys. I will go quickly to the man of God and come back again.”
23Her husband asked, “Why are you going to him today? It isn’t a New Moon Festival or a day of rest—a holy day.”
But she said goodbye to him.
24She saddled the donkey. Then she told her servant, “Lead on. Don’t slow down unless I tell you.” 25So she came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
When he saw her coming at a distance, he told his servant Gehazi, “There is the woman from Shunem. 26Run to meet her and ask her how she, her husband, and the boy are doing.”
“Everyone’s fine,” she answered.
27When she came to the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi went to push her away. But the man of God said, “Leave her alone. She is bitter. The Lord has hidden the reason from me. He hasn’t told me.”
28The woman said, “I didn’t ask you for a son. I said, ‘Don’t raise my hopes.’ ”
29The man of God told Gehazi, “Put on a belt, take my shepherd’s staff in your hand, and go. Whenever you meet anyone, don’t stop to greet him. If he greets you, don’t stop to answer him. Lay my staff on the boy’s face.”
30The boy’s mother said, “I solemnly swear, as the Lord and you live, I will not leave without you.” So Elisha got up and followed her.
31Gehazi went ahead of them and put the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or sign of life. So Gehazi came back to meet the man of God. Gehazi told him, “The boy didn’t wake up.”
32When Elisha came to the house, the dead boy was lying on Elisha’s bed. 33He went into the room, closed the door, and prayed to the Lord. 34Then he lay on the boy, putting his mouth on the boy’s mouth, his eyes on the boy’s eyes, his hands on the boy’s hands. He crouched over the boy’s body, and it became warm. 35Elisha got up, walked across the room and came back, and then got back on the bed and crouched over him. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. 36Elisha called Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunem woman.” Gehazi called her. When she came to him, he said, “Take your son.”
37Then she immediately bowed at his feet. She took her son and left.
Elisha and the Poisoned Food
38When Elisha went back to Gilgal, there was a famine in the country. ⌞One day,⌟ while the disciples of the prophets were meeting with him, he told his servant, “Put a large pot on the fire, and cook some stew for the disciples of the prophets.”
39One of them went into the field to gather vegetables and found a wild vine. He filled his clothes with wild gourds. Then he cut them into the pot of stew without knowing what they were. 40They dished out the food for the men to eat. As they were eating the stew, they cried out, “There’s death in the pot, man of God!” So they couldn’t eat it.
41Elisha said, “Bring some flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Dish it out for the people to eat.” Then there was nothing harmful in the pot.
Elisha Feeds a Hundred People
42A man from Baal Shalisha brought bread made from the first harvested grain, 20 barley loaves, and fresh grain to the man of God. The man of God said, “Give it to the people to eat.”
43But his servant asked, “How can I set this in front of a hundred people?”
“Give it to the people to eat,” the man of God said. “This is what the Lord says: They will eat and even have some left over.”
44The servant set it in front of them. They ate and had some left over, as the Lord had predicted.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
2 Kings 4
4
The Widow’s Oil Multiplied
1One of the wives of the sons of the prophets#2Kg 2:3,15 cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, has died. You know that your servant feared the Lord.#Pr 1:7; 9:10 Now the creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves.”#Lv 25:39–41
2Elisha asked her, “What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?”
She said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.”#1Kg 17:12
3Then he said, “Go out and borrow empty containers from all your neighbors. Do not get just a few.#2Kg 3:16 4Then go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour oil into all these containers. Set the full ones to one side.” 5So she left.
After she had shut the door behind her and her sons, they kept bringing her containers, and she kept pouring.#Mt 14:17–21 6When they were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another container.”
But he replied, “There aren’t any more.” Then the oil stopped.
7She went and told the man of God,#1Kg 12:22 and he said, “Go sell the oil and pay your debt; you and your sons can live on the rest.”#1Kg 17:16
The Shunammite Woman’s Hospitality
8One day Elisha went to Shunem.#Jos 19:18 A prominent woman who lived there persuaded him to eat some food. So whenever he passed by, he stopped there to eat.#Mt 10:40–42; 3Jn 5–8 9Then she said to her husband, “I know that the one who often passes by here is a holy man of God, 10so let’s make a small, walled-in upper room and put a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp there for him. Whenever he comes, he can stay there.”#1Kg 17:19
The Shunammite Woman’s Son
11One day he came there and stopped at the upstairs room to lie down. 12He ordered his attendant Gehazi,#2Kg 4:29–31; 5:20–27 “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her and she stood before him.
13Then he said to Gehazi, “Say to her, ‘Look, you’ve gone to all this trouble for us. What can we do for you?#2Kg 4:2 Can we speak on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army? ’”
She answered, “I am living among my own people.”
14So he asked, “Then what should be done for her?”
Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.”
15“Call her,” Elisha said. So Gehazi called her, and she stood in the doorway. 16Elisha said, “At this time next year you will have a son in your arms.”#Gn 18:9–14; Lk 1:7–13
Then she said, “No, my lord. Man of God, do not lie to your servant.”#2Kg 4:28
17The woman conceived and gave birth to a son at the same time the following year, as Elisha had promised her.
The Shunammite’s Son Raised
18The child grew and one day went out to his father and the harvesters.#Ru 2:3 19Suddenly he complained to his father, “My head! My head!”
His father told his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20So he picked him up and took him to his mother. The child sat on her lap until noon and then died. 21She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut him in, and left.
22She summoned her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so I can hurry to the man of God and come back again.”
23But he said, “Why go to him today? It’s not a New Moon or a Sabbath.”#Nm 10:10; 28:11
She replied, “It’s all right.”#2Sm 18:28; 2Kg 4:26
24Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Go fast; don’t slow the pace for me unless I tell you.” 25So she came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.#1Kg 18:19–20
When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to his attendant Gehazi,#2Kg 4:12 “Look, there’s the Shunammite woman.#2Kg 4:8,12 26Run out to meet her and ask, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your son all right? ’”
And she answered, “It’s all right.”
27When she came up to the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet.#Mt 28:9 Gehazi came to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone — she is in severe anguish,#Ru 1:19–21; 1Sm 1:15; Zch 12:10 and the Lord has hidden it from me. He hasn’t told me.”
28Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not lie to me?’” #2Kg 4:16
29So Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your mantle#1Kg 18:46; 2Kg 9:1 under your belt, take my staff with you, and go. If you meet anyone, don’t stop to greet him, and if a man greets you, don’t answer him.#Lk 10:4 Then place my staff on the boy’s face.”
30The boy’s mother said to Elisha, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”#2Kg 2:2,4,6 So he got up and followed her.
31Gehazi went ahead of them and placed the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or sign of life, so he went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy didn’t wake up.”#Jn 11:11
32When Elisha got to the house, he discovered the boy lying dead on his bed.#2Kg 4:21 33So he went in, closed the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord.#Mt 6:6 34Then he went up and lay on the boy:#1Kg 17:21–23 he put mouth to mouth, eye to eye, hand to hand. While he bent down over him, the boy’s flesh became warm.#Ac 20:10 35Elisha got up, went into the house, and paced back and forth. Then he went up and bent down over him again. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.#2Kg 8:5
36Elisha called Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” He called her and she came. Then Elisha said, “Pick up your son.” 37She came, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; she picked up her son and left.#Heb 11:35
The Deadly Stew
38When Elisha returned to Gilgal,#2Kg 2:1 there was a famine#Lv 26:26; 2Kg 8:1 in the land. The sons of the prophets#2Kg 2:3,5,7 were sitting before him.#Lk 10:39; Ac 22:3 He said to his attendant, “Put on the large pot and make stew for the sons of the prophets.”
39One went out to the field to gather herbs and found a wild vine from which he gathered as many wild gourds as his garment would hold. Then he came back and cut them up into the pot of stew, but they were unaware of what they were.#4:39 of what they were added for clarity
40They served some for the men to eat, but when they ate the stew they cried out, “There’s death in the pot,#Ex 10:17 man of God!” And they were unable to eat it.
41Then Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Serve it for the people to eat.” And there was nothing bad in the pot.#Ex 15:25; 2Kg 2:21
The Multiplied Bread
42A man from Baal-shalishah#1Sm 9:4 came to the man of God with his sack full of#4:42 Or with some heads of fresh grain and twenty loaves of barley bread from the first bread of the harvest. Elisha said, “Give it to the people to eat.”#Mt 14:17
43But Elisha’s attendant asked, “What? Am I to set this before a hundred men?” #Lk 9:13; Jn 6:9
“Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said, “for this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat, and they will have some left over.’” 44So he set it before them, and as the Lord had promised, they ate and had some left over.#Mt 14:20
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