2 Kings 4

1 And a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets has cried to Elisha, saying, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you have known that your servant was fearing YHWH, and the lender has come to take my two children to himself for servants.”

2 And Elisha says to her, “What do I do for you? Declare to me, what do you have in the house?” And she says, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house except a pot of oil.”

3 And he says, “Go, ask [for] vessels for yourself from outside, from all your neighbors—empty vessels—let [them] not be few;

4 and you have entered, and have shut the door on you, and on your sons, and have poured it into all these vessels, and the full ones you remove.”

5 And she goes from him, and shuts the door on her, and on her sons; they are bringing [them] near to her, and she is pouring [it] out,

6 and it comes to pass, at the filling of the vessels, that she says to her son, “Bring another vessel near to me,” and he says to her, “There is not another vessel”; and the oil stays.

7 And she comes and declares [it] to the man of God, and he says, “Go, sell the oil, and repay your loan; and you [and] your sons live off the rest.”

8 And the day comes that Elisha passes over to Shunem, and there [is] a great woman, and she lays hold on him to eat bread, and it comes to pass, at the time of his passing over, he turns aside there to eat bread,

9 and she says to her husband, “Now behold, I have known that he is a holy man of God, passing over by us continually;

10 please let us make a little upper chamber of the wall, and we set for him there a bed, and a table, and a high seat, and a lampstand; and it has been, in his coming to us, he turns aside there.”

11 And the day comes that he comes in there, and turns aside to the upper chamber, and lies there,

12 and he says to his young man Gehazi, “Call for this Shunammite”; and he calls for her, and she stands before him.

13 And he says to him, “Now say to her, Behold, you have troubled yourself concerning us with all this trouble; what can [I] do for you? Is it to speak for you to the king, or to the head of the host?” And she says, “I am dwelling in the midst of my people.”

14 And he says, “And what can [I] do for her?” And Gehazi says, “Truly she has no son, and her husband [is] aged.”

15 And he says, “Call for her”; and he calls for her, and she stands at the opening,

16 and he says, “At this season, according to the time of life, you are embracing a son”; and she says, “No, my lord, O man of God, do not lie to your maidservant.”

17 And the woman conceives and bears a son, at this season, according to the time of life that Elisha spoke of to her.

18 And the boy grows, and the day comes that he goes out to his father, to the reapers,

19 and he says to his father, “My head, my head”; and he says to the young man, “Carry him to his mother”;

20 and he carries him, and brings him to his mother, and he sits on her knees until the noon, and dies.

21 And she goes up, and lays him on the bed of the man of God, and shuts [the door] on him, and goes out,

22 and calls to her husband and says, “Please send one of the young men and one of the donkeys to me, and I run to the man of God, and return.”

23 And he says, “Why are you going to him today? [It is] neither new moon nor Sabbath!” And she says, “Peace [to you]!”

24 And she saddles the donkey and says to her young man, “Lead, and go, do not restrain riding for me, except I have commanded [so] to you.”

25 And she goes, and comes to the man of God, to the hill of Carmel, and it comes to pass, at the man of God’s seeing her from within view, that he says to his young man Gehazi, “Behold, this Shunammite;

26 now please run to meet her, and say to her, Is there peace to you? Is there peace to your husband? Is there peace to the boy?” And she says, “Peace.”

27 And she comes to the man of God, to the hill, and lays hold on his feet, and Gehazi comes near to thrust her away, and the man of God says, “Leave her alone, for her soul [is] bitter to her, and YHWH has hidden [it] from me, and has not declared [it] to me.”

28 And she says, “Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say, Do not deceive me?”

29 And he says to Gehazi, “Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go; when you meet a man, you do not greet him; and when a man greets you, you do not answer him; and you have laid my staff on the face of the youth.”

30 And the mother of the youth says, “YHWH lives, and your soul lives—if I leave you”; and he rises and goes after her.

31 And Gehazi has passed on before them, and lays the staff on the face of the youth, and there is no voice, and there is no attention, and he turns back to meet him, and declares to him, saying, “The youth has not awoken.”

32 And Elisha comes into the house, and behold, the youth is dead, laid on his bed,

33 and he goes in and shuts the door on them both, and prays to YHWH.

34 And he goes up, and lies down on the boy, and puts his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands, and stretches himself on him, and the flesh of the boy becomes warm;

35 and he turns back and walks in the house, once here and once there, and goes up and stretches himself on him, and the youth sneezes until seven times, and the youth opens his eyes.

36 And he calls to Gehazi and says, “Call to this Shunammite”; and he calls her, and she comes to him, and he says, “Lift up your son.”

37 And she goes in, and falls at his feet, and bows herself to the earth, and lifts up her son, and goes out.

38 And Elisha has turned back to Gilgal, and the famine [is] in the land, and the sons of the prophets are sitting before him, and he says to his young man, “Set on the great pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”

39 And one goes out to the field to gather herbs, and finds a vine of the field, and gathers gourds of the field from it—the fullness of his garment—and comes in and splits [them] into the pot of stew, for they did not know [them];

40 and they pour out for the men to eat, and it comes to pass at their eating of the stew, that they have cried out, and say, “Death [is] in the pot, O man of God!” And they have not been able to eat.

41 And he says, “Then bring a meal”; and he casts into the pot and says, “Pour out for the people, and they eat”; and there was no bad thing in the pot.

42 And a man has come from Ba‘al-Shalishah, and brings to the man of God bread of first-fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of grain in its husk, and he says, “Give to the people, and they eat.”

43 And his minister says, “How do I give this before one hundred men?” And he says, “Give to the people, and they eat, for thus said YHWH: Eat and leave”;

44 and he gives before them, and they eat and leave, according to the word of YHWH.