The Message

<div class="version vid97 iso6393eng" data-vid="97" data-iso6393="eng">
    <div class="book bk2KI">
        <div class="chapter ch4" data-usfm="2KI.4">
            <div class="label">4</div><div class="p"><span class="content">  </span><span class="verse v1" data-usfm="2KI.4.1"><span class="label">1</span><span class="content">One day the wife of a man from the guild of prophets called out to Elisha, &#8220;Your servant my husband is dead. You well know what a good man he was, devoted to </span><span class="nd"><span class="content">God</span></span><span class="content">. And now the man to whom he was in debt is on his way to collect by taking my two children as slaves.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v1" data-usfm="2KI.4.1"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="2KI.4.2"><span class="label">2</span><span class="content">Elisha said, &#8220;I wonder how I can be of help. Tell me, what do you have in your house?&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="2KI.4.2"><span class="content">&#8220;Nothing,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Well, I do have a little oil.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="2KI.4.2"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v3 v4" data-usfm="2KI.4.3+2KI.4.4"><span class="label">3-4</span><span class="content">&#8220;Here&#8217;s what you do,&#8221; said Elisha. &#8220;Go up and down the street and borrow jugs and bowls from all your neighbors. And not just a few&#8212;all you can get. Then come home and lock the door behind you, you and your sons. Pour oil into each container; when each is full, set it aside.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v3 v4" data-usfm="2KI.4.3+2KI.4.4"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v5 v6" data-usfm="2KI.4.5+2KI.4.6"><span class="label">5-6</span><span class="content">She did what he said. She locked the door behind her and her sons; as they brought the containers to her, she filled them. When all the jugs and bowls were full, she said to one of her sons, &#8220;Another jug, please.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v5 v6" data-usfm="2KI.4.5+2KI.4.6"><span class="content">He said, &#8220;That&#8217;s it. There are no more jugs.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v5 v6" data-usfm="2KI.4.5+2KI.4.6"><span class="content">Then the oil stopped.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v5 v6" data-usfm="2KI.4.5+2KI.4.6"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="2KI.4.7"><span class="label">7</span><span class="content">She went and told the story to the man of God. He said, &#8220;Go sell the oil and make good on your debts. Live, both you and your sons, on what&#8217;s left.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="pc"><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="2KI.4.7"><span class="content">* * *</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="2KI.4.7"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="2KI.4.8"><span class="label">8</span><span class="content">One day Elisha passed through Shunem. A leading lady of the town talked him into stopping for a meal. And then it became his custom: Whenever he passed through, he stopped by for a meal.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="2KI.4.8"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v9 v10" data-usfm="2KI.4.9+2KI.4.10"><span class="label">9-10</span><span class="content">&#8220;I&#8217;m certain,&#8221; said the woman to her husband, &#8220;that this man who stops by with us all the time is a holy man of God. Why don&#8217;t we add on a small room upstairs and furnish it with a bed and desk, chair and lamp, so that when he comes by he can stay with us?&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v9 v10" data-usfm="2KI.4.9+2KI.4.10"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="2KI.4.11"><span class="label">11</span><span class="content">And so it happened that the next time Elisha came by he went to the room and lay down for a nap.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="2KI.4.11"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="2KI.4.12"><span class="label">12</span><span class="content">Then he said to his servant Gehazi, &#8220;Tell the Shunammite woman I want to see her.&#8221; He called her and she came to him.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="2KI.4.12"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v13" data-usfm="2KI.4.13"><span class="label">13</span><span class="content">Through Gehazi Elisha said, &#8220;You&#8217;ve gone far beyond the call of duty in taking care of us; what can we do for you? Do you have a request we can bring to the king or to the commander of the army?&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v13" data-usfm="2KI.4.13"><span class="content">She replied, &#8220;Nothing. I&#8217;m secure and satisfied in my family.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v13" data-usfm="2KI.4.13"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v14" data-usfm="2KI.4.14"><span class="label">14</span><span class="content">Elisha conferred with Gehazi: &#8220;There&#8217;s got to be something we can do for her. But what?&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v14" data-usfm="2KI.4.14"><span class="content">Gehazi said, &#8220;Well, she has no son, and her husband is an old man.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v14" data-usfm="2KI.4.14"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v15" data-usfm="2KI.4.15"><span class="label">15</span><span class="content">&#8220;Call her in,&#8221; said Elisha. He called her and she stood at the open door.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v15" data-usfm="2KI.4.15"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="2KI.4.16"><span class="label">16</span><span class="content">Elisha said to her, &#8220;This time next year you&#8217;re going to be nursing an infant son.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="2KI.4.16"><span class="content">&#8220;O my master, O Holy Man,&#8221; she said, &#8220;don&#8217;t play games with me, teasing me with such fantasies!&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="2KI.4.16"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="2KI.4.17"><span class="label">17</span><span class="content">The woman conceived. A year later, just as Elisha had said, she had a son.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="2KI.4.17"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v18 v19" data-usfm="2KI.4.18+2KI.4.19"><span class="label">18-19</span><span class="content">The child grew up. One day he went to his father, who was working with the harvest hands, complaining, &#8220;My head, my head!&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v18 v19" data-usfm="2KI.4.18+2KI.4.19"><span class="content">His father ordered a servant, &#8220;Carry him to his mother.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v18 v19" data-usfm="2KI.4.18+2KI.4.19"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v20" data-usfm="2KI.4.20"><span class="label">20</span><span class="content">The servant took him in his arms and carried him to his mother. He lay on her lap until noon and died.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v20" data-usfm="2KI.4.20"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v21" data-usfm="2KI.4.21"><span class="label">21</span><span class="content">She took him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut him in alone, and left.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v21" data-usfm="2KI.4.21"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v22" data-usfm="2KI.4.22"><span class="label">22</span><span class="content">She then called her husband, &#8220;Get me a servant and a donkey so I can go to the Holy Man; I&#8217;ll be back as soon as I can.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v22" data-usfm="2KI.4.22"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v23" data-usfm="2KI.4.23"><span class="label">23</span><span class="content">&#8220;But why today? This isn&#8217;t a holy day&#8212;it&#8217;s neither New Moon nor Sabbath.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v23" data-usfm="2KI.4.23"><span class="content">She said, &#8220;Don&#8217;t ask questions; I need to go right now. Trust me.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v23" data-usfm="2KI.4.23"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v24 v25" data-usfm="2KI.4.24+2KI.4.25"><span class="label">24-25a</span><span class="content"> She went ahead and saddled the donkey, ordering her servant, &#8220;Take the lead&#8212;and go as fast as you can; I&#8217;ll tell you if you&#8217;re going too fast.&#8221; And so off she went. She came to the Holy Man at Mount Carmel.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v24 v25" data-usfm="2KI.4.24+2KI.4.25"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v25 v26" data-usfm="2KI.4.25+2KI.4.26"><span class="label">25b-26</span><span class="content"> The Holy Man, spotting her while she was still a long way off, said to his servant Gehazi, &#8220;Look out there; why, it&#8217;s the Shunammite woman! Quickly now. Ask her, &#8216;Is something wrong? Are you all right? Your husband? Your child?&#8217;&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v25 v26" data-usfm="2KI.4.25+2KI.4.26"><span class="content">She said, &#8220;Everything&#8217;s fine.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v25 v26" data-usfm="2KI.4.25+2KI.4.26"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v27" data-usfm="2KI.4.27"><span class="label">27</span><span class="content">But when she reached the Holy Man at the mountain, she threw herself at his feet and held tightly to him.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v27" data-usfm="2KI.4.27"><span class="content">Gehazi came up to pull her away, but the Holy Man said, &#8220;Leave her alone&#8212;can&#8217;t you see that she&#8217;s in distress? But </span><span class="nd"><span class="content">God</span></span><span class="content"> hasn&#8217;t let me in on why; I&#8217;m completely in the dark.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v27" data-usfm="2KI.4.27"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v28" data-usfm="2KI.4.28"><span class="label">28</span><span class="content">Then she spoke up: &#8220;Did I ask for a son, master? Didn&#8217;t I tell you, &#8216;Don&#8217;t tease me with false hopes&#8217;?&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v28" data-usfm="2KI.4.28"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v29" data-usfm="2KI.4.29"><span class="label">29</span><span class="content">He ordered Gehazi, &#8220;Don&#8217;t lose a minute&#8212;grab my staff and run as fast as you can. If you meet anyone, don&#8217;t even take time to greet him, and if anyone greets you, don&#8217;t even answer. Lay my staff across the boy&#8217;s face.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v29" data-usfm="2KI.4.29"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v30" data-usfm="2KI.4.30"><span class="label">30</span><span class="content">The boy&#8217;s mother said, &#8220;As sure as </span><span class="nd"><span class="content">God</span></span><span class="content"> lives and you live, you&#8217;re not leaving me behind.&#8221; And so Gehazi let her take the lead, and followed behind.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v30" data-usfm="2KI.4.30"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v31" data-usfm="2KI.4.31"><span class="label">31</span><span class="content">But Gehazi arrived first and laid the staff across the boy&#8217;s face. But there was no sound&#8212;no sign of life. Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and said, &#8220;The boy hasn&#8217;t stirred.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v31" data-usfm="2KI.4.31"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v32 v33 v34 v35" data-usfm="2KI.4.32+2KI.4.33+2KI.4.34+2KI.4.35"><span class="label">32-35</span><span class="content">Elisha entered the house and found the boy stretched out on the bed dead. He went into the room and locked the door&#8212;just the two of them in the room&#8212;and prayed to </span><span class="nd"><span class="content">God</span></span><span class="content">. He then got into bed with the boy and covered him with his body, mouth on mouth, eyes on eyes, hands on hands. As he was stretched out over him like that, the boy&#8217;s body became warm. Elisha got up and paced back and forth in the room. Then he went back and stretched himself upon the boy again. The boy started sneezing&#8212;seven times he sneezed!&#8212;and opened his eyes.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v32 v33 v34 v35" data-usfm="2KI.4.32+2KI.4.33+2KI.4.34+2KI.4.35"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v36" data-usfm="2KI.4.36"><span class="label">36</span><span class="content">He called Gehazi and said, &#8220;Get the Shunammite woman in here!&#8221; He called her and she came in.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v36" data-usfm="2KI.4.36"><span class="content">Elisha said, &#8220;Embrace your son!&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v36" data-usfm="2KI.4.36"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v37" data-usfm="2KI.4.37"><span class="label">37</span><span class="content">She fell at Elisha&#8217;s feet, face to the ground in reverent awe. Then she embraced her son and went out with him.</span></span></div><div class="b"></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v37" data-usfm="2KI.4.37"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v38" data-usfm="2KI.4.38"><span class="label">38</span><span class="content">Elisha went back down to Gilgal. There was a famine there. While he was consulting with the guild of prophets, he told his servant, &#8220;Put a large pot on the fire and cook up some stew for the prophets.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v38" data-usfm="2KI.4.38"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v39 v40" data-usfm="2KI.4.39+2KI.4.40"><span class="label">39-40</span><span class="content">One of the men went out into the field to get some herbs; he came across a wild vine and picked gourds from it, filling his gunnysack. He brought them back, sliced them up, and put them in the stew, even though no one knew what kind of plant it was. The stew was then served up for the men to eat. They started to eat, and then exclaimed, &#8220;Death in the pot, O man of God! Death in the pot!&#8221; Nobody could eat it.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v39 v40" data-usfm="2KI.4.39+2KI.4.40"><span class="content">Elisha ordered, &#8220;Get me some meal.&#8221; Then he sprinkled it into the stew pot.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v39 v40" data-usfm="2KI.4.39+2KI.4.40"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v41" data-usfm="2KI.4.41"><span class="label">41</span><span class="content">&#8220;Now serve it up to the men,&#8221; he said. They ate it, and it was just fine&#8212;nothing wrong with </span><span class="it"><span class="content">that</span></span><span class="content"> stew!</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v41" data-usfm="2KI.4.41"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v42" data-usfm="2KI.4.42"><span class="label">42</span><span class="content">One day a man arrived from Baal Shalishah. He brought the man of God twenty loaves of fresh-baked bread from the early harvest, along with a few apples from the orchard.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v42" data-usfm="2KI.4.42"><span class="content">Elisha said, &#8220;Pass it around to the people to eat.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v42" data-usfm="2KI.4.42"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v43" data-usfm="2KI.4.43"><span class="label">43</span><span class="content">His servant said, &#8220;For a hundred men? There&#8217;s not nearly enough!&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v43" data-usfm="2KI.4.43"><span class="content">Elisha said, &#8220;Just go ahead and do it. </span><span class="nd"><span class="content">God</span></span><span class="content"> says there&#8217;s plenty.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v43" data-usfm="2KI.4.43"><span class="content">  </span></span><span class="verse v44" data-usfm="2KI.4.44"><span class="label">44</span><span class="content">And sure enough, there was. He passed around what he had&#8212;they not only ate, but had leftovers.</span></span></div>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

One day the wife of a man from the guild of prophets called out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead. You well know what a good man he was, devoted to GOD. And now the man to whom he was in debt is on his way to collect by taking my two children as slaves.”
Elisha said, “I wonder how I can be of help. Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
“Nothing,” she said. “Well, I do have a little oil.”
“Here’s what you do,” said Elisha. “Go up and down the street and borrow jugs and bowls from all your neighbors. And not just a few—all you can get. Then come home and lock the door behind you, you and your sons. Pour oil into each container; when each is full, set it aside.”
She did what he said. She locked the door behind her and her sons; as they brought the containers to her, she filled them. When all the jugs and bowls were full, she said to one of her sons, “Another jug, please.”
He said, “That’s it. There are no more jugs.”
Then the oil stopped.
She went and told the story to the man of God. He said, “Go sell the oil and make good on your debts. Live, both you and your sons, on what’s left.”
* * *
One day Elisha passed through Shunem. A leading lady of the town talked him into stopping for a meal. And then it became his custom: Whenever he passed through, he stopped by for a meal.
“I’m certain,” said the woman to her husband, “that this man who stops by with us all the time is a holy man of God. Why don’t we add on a small room upstairs and furnish it with a bed and desk, chair and lamp, so that when he comes by he can stay with us?”
And so it happened that the next time Elisha came by he went to the room and lay down for a nap.
Then he said to his servant Gehazi, “Tell the Shunammite woman I want to see her.” He called her and she came to him.
Through Gehazi Elisha said, “You’ve gone far beyond the call of duty in taking care of us; what can we do for you? Do you have a request we can bring to the king or to the commander of the army?”
She replied, “Nothing. I’m secure and satisfied in my family.”
Elisha conferred with Gehazi: “There’s got to be something we can do for her. But what?”
Gehazi said, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is an old man.”
“Call her in,” said Elisha. He called her and she stood at the open door.
Elisha said to her, “This time next year you’re going to be nursing an infant son.”
“O my master, O Holy Man,” she said, “don’t play games with me, teasing me with such fantasies!”
The woman conceived. A year later, just as Elisha had said, she had a son.
The child grew up. One day he went to his father, who was working with the harvest hands, complaining, “My head, my head!”
His father ordered a servant, “Carry him to his mother.”
The servant took him in his arms and carried him to his mother. He lay on her lap until noon and died.
She took him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut him in alone, and left.
She then called her husband, “Get me a servant and a donkey so I can go to the Holy Man; I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“But why today? This isn’t a holy day—it’s neither New Moon nor Sabbath.”
She said, “Don’t ask questions; I need to go right now. Trust me.”
She went ahead and saddled the donkey, ordering her servant, “Take the lead—and go as fast as you can; I’ll tell you if you’re going too fast.” And so off she went. She came to the Holy Man at Mount Carmel.
The Holy Man, spotting her while she was still a long way off, said to his servant Gehazi, “Look out there; why, it’s the Shunammite woman! Quickly now. Ask her, ‘Is something wrong? Are you all right? Your husband? Your child?’”
She said, “Everything’s fine.”
But when she reached the Holy Man at the mountain, she threw herself at his feet and held tightly to him.
Gehazi came up to pull her away, but the Holy Man said, “Leave her alone—can’t you see that she’s in distress? But GOD hasn’t let me in on why; I’m completely in the dark.”
Then she spoke up: “Did I ask for a son, master? Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t tease me with false hopes’?”
He ordered Gehazi, “Don’t lose a minute—grab my staff and run as fast as you can. If you meet anyone, don’t even take time to greet him, and if anyone greets you, don’t even answer. Lay my staff across the boy’s face.”
The boy’s mother said, “As sure as GOD lives and you live, you’re not leaving me behind.” And so Gehazi let her take the lead, and followed behind.
But Gehazi arrived first and laid the staff across the boy’s face. But there was no sound—no sign of life. Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and said, “The boy hasn’t stirred.”
Elisha entered the house and found the boy stretched out on the bed dead. He went into the room and locked the door—just the two of them in the room—and prayed to GOD. He then got into bed with the boy and covered him with his body, mouth on mouth, eyes on eyes, hands on hands. As he was stretched out over him like that, the boy’s body became warm. Elisha got up and paced back and forth in the room. Then he went back and stretched himself upon the boy again. The boy started sneezing—seven times he sneezed!—and opened his eyes.
He called Gehazi and said, “Get the Shunammite woman in here!” He called her and she came in.
Elisha said, “Embrace your son!”
She fell at Elisha’s feet, face to the ground in reverent awe. Then she embraced her son and went out with him.

Elisha went back down to Gilgal. There was a famine there. While he was consulting with the guild of prophets, he told his servant, “Put a large pot on the fire and cook up some stew for the prophets.”
One of the men went out into the field to get some herbs; he came across a wild vine and picked gourds from it, filling his gunnysack. He brought them back, sliced them up, and put them in the stew, even though no one knew what kind of plant it was. The stew was then served up for the men to eat. They started to eat, and then exclaimed, “Death in the pot, O man of God! Death in the pot!” Nobody could eat it.
Elisha ordered, “Get me some meal.” Then he sprinkled it into the stew pot.
“Now serve it up to the men,” he said. They ate it, and it was just fine—nothing wrong with that stew!
One day a man arrived from Baal Shalishah. He brought the man of God twenty loaves of fresh-baked bread from the early harvest, along with a few apples from the orchard.
Elisha said, “Pass it around to the people to eat.”
His servant said, “For a hundred men? There’s not nearly enough!”
Elisha said, “Just go ahead and do it. GOD says there’s plenty.”
And sure enough, there was. He passed around what he had—they not only ate, but had leftovers.

వినండి 2 Kings 4