2 Kings 4

1 Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And now his creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves!”

Now a certain woman, the wife of one of the sons of the prophets, came crying to Elisha and said, Your servant my husband is dead; and to your knowledge he was a worshipper of the Lord; but now, the creditor has come to take my two children as servants in payment of his debt.

2 “How can I help you?” asked Elisha. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”

Then Elisha said to her, What am I to do for you? say now, what have you in the house? And she said, Your servant has nothing in the house but a pot of oil.

3 “Go,” said Elisha, “borrow jars, even empty ones, from all your neighbors. Do not gather just a few.

Then he said, Go out to all your neighbours and get vessels, a very great number of them.

4 Then go inside, shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour oil into all these jars, setting the full ones aside.”

Then go in, and, shutting the door on yourself and your sons, put oil into all these vessels, putting on one side the full ones.

5 So she left him, and after she had shut the door behind her and her sons, they kept bringing jars to her, and she kept pouring.

So she went away, and when the door was shut on her and her sons, they took the vessels to her and she put oil into them.

6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another.” But he replied, “There are no more jars.” Then the oil stopped flowing.

And when all the vessels were full, she said to her son, Get me another vessel. And he said, There are no more. And the flow of oil was stopped.

7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt. Then you and your sons can live on the remainder.”

So she came to the man of God and gave him word of what she had done. And he said, Go and get money for the oil and make payment of your debt, and let the rest be for the needs of yourself and your sons.

8 One day Elisha went to Shunem, and a prominent woman who lived there persuaded him to have a meal. So whenever he would pass by, he would stop there to eat.

Now there came a day when Elisha went to Shunem, and there was a woman of high position living there, who made him come in and have a meal with her. And after that, every time he went by, he went into her house for a meal.

9 Then the woman said to her husband, “Behold, now I know that the one who often comes our way is a holy man of God.

And she said to her husband, Now I see that this is a holy man of God, who comes by day after day.

10 Please let us make a small room upstairs and put in it a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp for him. Then when he comes to us, he can stay there.”

So let us make a little room on the wall; and put a bed there for him, and a table and a seat and a light; so that when he comes to us, he will be able to go in there.

11 One day Elisha came to visit and went to his upper room to lie down.

Now one day, when he had gone there, he went into the little room and took his rest there.

12 And he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call the Shunammite woman.” And when he had called her, she stood before him,

And he said to Gehazi, his servant, Send for this Shunammite. So in answer to his voice she came before him.

13 and Elisha said to Gehazi, “Now tell her, ‘Look, you have gone to all this trouble for us. What can we do for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’” “I have a home among my own people,” she replied.

And he said to him, Now say to her, See, you have taken all this trouble for us; what is to be done for you? will you have any request made for you to the king or the captain of the army? But she said, I am living among my people.

14 So he asked, “Then what should be done for her?” “Well, she has no son,” Gehazi replied, “and her husband is old.”

So he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi made answer, Still there is this, she has no son and her husband is old.

15 “Call her,” said Elisha. So Gehazi called her, and she stood in the doorway.

Then he said, Send for her. And in answer to his voice she took her place at the door.

16 And Elisha declared, “At this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms.” “No, my lord,” she said. “Do not lie to your maidservant, O man of God.”

And Elisha said, At this time in the coming year you will have a son in your arms. And she said, No, my lord, O man of God, do not say what is false to your servant.

17 But the woman did conceive, and at that time the next year she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.

Then the woman became with child and gave birth to a son at the time named, in the year after, as Elisha had said to her.

18 And the child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the harvesters.

Now one day, when the child was older, he went out to his father to where the grain was being cut.

19 “My head! My head!” he complained to his father. So his father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.”

And he said to his father, My head, my head! And the father said to a servant, Take him in to his mother.

20 After the servant had picked him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died.

And he took him in to his mother, and she took him on her knees and kept him there till the middle of the day, when his life went from him.

21 And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God. Then she shut the door and went out.

Then she went up and put him on the bed of the man of God, shutting the door on him, and went out.

22 And the woman called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may go quickly to the man of God and return.”

And she said to her husband, Send me one of the servants and one of the asses so that I may go quickly to the man of God and come back again.

23 “Why would you go to him today?” he replied. “It is not a New Moon or a Sabbath.” “Everything is all right,” she said.

And he said, Why are you going to him today? it is not a new moon or a Sabbath. But she said, It is well.

24 Then she saddled the donkey and told her servant, “Drive onward; do not slow the pace for me unless I tell you.”

Then she made the ass ready and said to her servant, Keep driving on; do not make a stop without orders from me.

25 So she set out and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, there is the Shunammite woman.

So she went, and came to Mount Carmel, to the man of God. And when the man of God saw her coming in his direction, he said to Gehazi, his servant, See, there is the Shunammite;

26 Please run out now to meet her and ask, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’” And she answered, “Everything is all right.”

Go quickly to her, and on meeting her say to her, Are you well? and your husband and the child, are they well? And she said in answer, All is well.

27 When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is in deep distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.”

And when she came to where the man of God was on the hill, she put her hands round his feet; and Gehazi came near with the purpose of pushing her away; but the man of God said, Let her be, for her soul is bitter in her; and the Lord has kept it secret from me, and has not given me word of it.

28 Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not deceive me?’”

Then she said, Did I make a request to my lord for a son? did I not say, Do not give me false words?

29 So Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tie up your garment, take my staff in your hand, and go! If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer him. Then lay my staff on the boy’s face.”

Then he said to Gehazi, Make yourself ready, and take my stick in your hand, and go: if you come across anyone on the way, give him no blessing, and if anyone gives you a blessing, give him no answer. And put my stick on the child's face.

30 And the mother of the boy said, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.

But the mother of the child said, As the Lord is living and as your soul is living, I will not go back without you. So he got up and went with her.

31 Gehazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So he went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”

And Gehazi went on before them and put the stick on the child's face; but there was no voice, and no one gave attention. So he went back, and meeting him gave him the news, saying, The child is not awake.

32 When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his bed.

And when Elisha came into the house he saw the child dead, stretched on his bed.

33 So he went in, closed the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the LORD.

So he went in, and shutting the door on the two of them, made prayer to the Lord.

34 Then Elisha got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eye to eye, and hand to hand. As he stretched himself out over him, the boy’s body became warm.

Then he got up on the bed, stretching himself out on the child, and put his mouth on the child's mouth, his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands; and the child's body became warm.

35 Elisha turned away and paced back and forth across the room. Then he got on the bed and stretched himself out over the boy again, and the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

Then he came back, and after walking once through the house and back, he went up, stretching himself out on the child seven times; and the child's eyes became open.

36 Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” So he called her and she came. Then Elisha said, “Pick up your son.”

And he gave orders to Gehazi, and said, Send for the Shunammite. And she came in answer to his voice. And he said, Take up your son.

37 She came in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out.

And she came in, and went down on her face to the earth at his feet; then she took her son in her arms and went out.

38 When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the sons of the prophets were sitting at his feet, he said to his attendant, “Put on the large pot and boil some stew for the sons of the prophets.”

And Elisha went back to Gilgal, now there was very little food in the land; and the sons of the prophets were seated before him. And he said to his servant, Put the great pot on the fire, and make soup for the sons of the prophets.

39 One of them went out to the field to gather herbs, and he found a wild vine from which he gathered as many wild gourds as his garment could hold. Then he came back and cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were.

And one went out into the field to get green plants and saw a vine of the field, and pulling off the fruit of it till the fold of his robe was full, he came back and put the fruit, cut up small, into the pot of soup, having no idea what it was.

40 And they poured it out for the men to eat, but when they tasted the stew they cried out, “There is death in the pot, O man of God!” And they could not eat it.

Then they gave the men soup from the pot. And while they were drinking the soup, they gave a cry, and said, O man of God, there is death in the pot; and they were not able to take any more food.

41 Then Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Pour it out for the people to eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

But he said, Get some meal. And he put it into the pot, and said, Now give it to the people so that they may have food. And there was nothing bad in the pot.

42 Now a man from Baal-shalishah came to the man of God with a sack of twenty loaves of barley bread from the first ripe grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” said Elisha.

Now a man came from Baal-shalishah with an offering of first-fruits for the man of God, twenty barley cakes and garden fruit in his bag. And he said, Give these to the people for food.

43 But his servant asked, “How am I to set twenty loaves before a hundred men?” “Give it to the people to eat,” said Elisha, “for this is what the LORD says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’”

But his servant said, How am I to put this before a hundred men? But he said, Give it to the people for food; for the Lord says, There will be food for them and some over.

44 So he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the LORD.

So he put it before them, and they had a meal and there was more than enough, as the Lord had said.