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
Elisha Helps a Poor Widow
1One day the widow of one of the Lord's prophets said to Elisha, “You know that before my husband died, he was a follower of yours and a worshiper of the Lord. But he owed a man some money, and now that man is on his way to take my two sons as his slaves.”
2“Maybe there's something I can do to help,” Elisha said. “What do you have in your house?”
“Sir, I have nothing but a small bottle of olive oil.”
3Elisha told her, “Ask your neighbors for their empty jars. And after you've borrowed as many as you can, 4go home and shut the door behind you and your sons. Then begin filling the jars with oil and set each one aside as you fill it.” 5The woman left.
Later, when she and her sons were back inside their house, the two sons brought her the jars, and she began filling them.
6At last, she said to one of her sons, “Bring me another jar.”
“We don't have any more,” he answered, and the oil stopped flowing from the small bottle.
7After she told Elisha what had happened, he said, “Sell the oil and use part of the money to pay what you owe the man. You and your sons can live on what is left.”
Elisha Brings a Rich Woman's Son Back to Life
8Once, while Elisha was in the town of Shunem,#4.8 Shunem: A town in Israel, about 40 kilometers north of Samaria. he met a rich woman who invited him to her home for dinner. After that, whenever he was in Shunem, he would have a meal there with her and her husband.
9Some time later the woman said to her husband, “I'm sure the man who comes here so often is a prophet of God. 10Why don't we build him a small room on the flat roof of our house? We can put a bed, a table and chair, and an oil lamp in it. Then whenever he comes, he can stay with us.”
11The next time Elisha was in Shunem, he stopped at their house and went up to his room to rest. 12-13He said to his servant Gehazi, “This woman has been very helpful. Have her come up here to the roof for a moment.” She came, and Elisha told Gehazi to say to her, “You've gone to a lot of trouble for us, and we want to help you. Is there something we can request the king or army commander to do?”#4.12,13 request the king … do: Elisha may have meant that he could ask these leaders to lower her taxes.
The woman answered, “With my relatives nearby, I have everything I need.”
14“Then what can we do for her?” Elisha asked Gehazi.
Gehazi replied, “I do know that her husband is old, and that she doesn't have a son.”
15“Ask her to come here again,” Elisha told his servant. He called for her, and she came and stood in the doorway of Elisha's room.
16 #
Gn 18.14. Elisha said to her, “Next year at this time, you'll be holding your own baby son in your arms.”
“You're a man of God,” the woman replied. “Please don't lie to me.”
17But a few months later, the woman got pregnant. She gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had promised.
18One day while the boy was still young, he was out in the fields with his father, where the workers were harvesting the crops. 19Suddenly he shouted, “My head hurts. It hurts a lot!”
“Carry him back to his mother,” the father said to his servant. 20The servant picked up the boy and carried him to his mother. The boy lay on her lap all morning, and by noon he was dead. 21She carried him upstairs to Elisha's room and laid him across the bed. Then she walked out and shut the door behind her.
22The woman called to her husband, “I need to see the prophet. Let me use one of the donkeys. Send a servant along with me, and let me leave now, so I can get back quickly.”
23“Why do you need to see him today?” her husband asked. “It's not the Sabbath or time for the New Moon Festival.”
“That's all right,” she answered. 24She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Let's go. And don't slow down unless I tell you to.” 25She left at once for Mount Carmel to talk with Elisha.#4.25 Elisha: Mount Carmel is about 40 kilometers from Shunem.
When Elisha saw her coming, he said, “Gehazi, look! It's the woman from Shunem. 26Run and meet her. And ask her if everything is all right with her and her family.”
“Everything is fine,” she answered Gehazi. 27But as soon as she got to the top of the mountain, she went over and grabbed Elisha by the feet.
Gehazi started toward her to push her away, when Elisha said, “Leave her alone! Don't you see how sad she is? But the Lord hasn't told me why.”
28The woman said, “Sir, I begged you not to get my hopes up, and I didn't even ask you for a son.”
29“Gehazi, get ready and go to her house,” Elisha said. “Take along my walking stick, and when you get there, lay it on the boy's face. Don't stop to talk to anyone, even if they try to talk to you.”
30But the boy's mother said to Elisha, “I swear by the living Lord and by your own life that I won't leave without you.” So Elisha got up and went with them.
31Gehazi ran on ahead and laid Elisha's walking stick on the boy's face, but the boy didn't move or make a sound. Gehazi ran back to Elisha and said, “The boy didn't wake up.”
32Elisha arrived at the woman's house and went straight to his room, where he saw the boy's body on his bed. 33He walked in, shut the door, and prayed to the Lord. 34#1 K 17.21. Then he got on the bed and stretched out over the dead body, with his mouth on the boy's mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hand on his hands. As he lay there, the boy's body became warm. 35Elisha got up and walked back and forth in the room, then he went back and leaned over the boy's body. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
36Elisha called out to Gehazi, “Ask the boy's mother to come here.” Gehazi did, and when she was at the door, Elisha said, “You can take your son.”
37She came in and bowed down at Elisha's feet. Then she picked up her son and left.
Elisha Makes Some Stew Taste Better
38Later, Elisha went back to Gilgal, where there was almost nothing to eat, because the crops had failed.
One day while the prophets who lived there were meeting with Elisha, he said to his servant, “Prepare a big pot of stew for these prophets.”
39One of them went out into the woods to gather some herbs. He found a wild vine and picked as much of its fruit as he could carry, but he didn't know that the fruit was very sour. When he got back, he cut up the fruit and put it in the stew.
40The stew was served, and when the prophets started eating it, they shouted, “Elisha, this stew tastes terrible! We can't eat it.”
41“Bring me some flour,” Elisha said. He sprinkled the flour in the stew and said, “Now serve it to them.” And the stew tasted fine.
Elisha Feeds One Hundred People
42A man from the town of Baal-Shalishah#4.42 Baal-Shalishah: The exact location of this town is not known, but it was probably somewhere near Shechem. brought Elisha some freshly cut grain and 20 loaves of bread made from the first barley that was harvested. Elisha said, “Give it to the people so they can eat.”
43“There's not enough here for 100 people,” his servant said.
“Just give it to them,” Elisha replied. “The Lord has promised there will be more than enough.”
44So the servant served the bread and grain to the people. They ate and still had some left over, just as the Lord had promised.
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© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.