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.”

Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets came crying to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared Yahweh. Now the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.”

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.”

So Elisha said to 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 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;

Then Elisha said, “Go out to borrow jars from your neighbors, empty jars. Borrow as many as possible.

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.”

Then you must go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour oil into all those jars; set aside the jars that are full.”

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,

So she left Elisha and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her, and she filled them with oil.

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.

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

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.”

Then she came and told the man of God. He said, “Go, sell the oil; pay your debt, and live with your sons on 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,

One day Elisha walked to Shunem where an important woman lived; she urged him to eat food with her. So as often as Elisha passed by, he would stop there to eat.

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;

The woman said to her husband, “See, now I realize that this is a holy man of God who is always passing by.

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.”

Let us make a little room on the roof for Elisha, and let us put in it a bed, a table, a seat, and a lamp. Then when he comes to us, he will stay there.”

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

So when the day came again that Elisha stopped there, he stayed in the room and rested there.

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

Elisha said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” When he had called her, she stood 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.”

Elisha said to him, “Say to her, 'You have gone to all this trouble to care for us. What can be done for you? Can we speak for you to the king or to the army commander?'” She answered, “I live among my own 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.”

So Elisha said, “What can we do for her, then?” Gehazi answered, “Indeed, she has no son, and her husband is old.”

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

So Elisha answered, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the door.

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.”

Elisha said, “At this time of year, in one year's time, you will be holding a son.” She said, “No, my master and man of God, do not lie to your servant.”

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

But the woman conceived and gave birth to a son at the same time in the following year, as Elisha had said to her.

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

When the child had grown, he went out one day to his father, who was with harvesters.

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

He said to his father, “My head, my head.” His father said to his servant, “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.

When the servant had picked him up and brought the boy to his mother, the child sat on her knees until noon and then died.

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,

So the woman got up and laid the boy on the bed of the man of God, shut the door, and went 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.”

She called to her husband, and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys so that I may hurry to the man of God and then come back.”

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

Her husband said, “Why do you want to go to him today? It is not a new moon nor a Sabbath.” She replied, “It will be all right.”

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.”

Then she saddled a donkey and said to her servant, “Drive on quickly; do not slow down for me unless I say so.”

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;

So she went and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. So when the man of God saw her in the distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, here comes the Shunammite woman.

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.”

Please run to meet her and say to her, 'Is everything alright with you and with your husband and child?'” She answered, “It is alright.”

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.”

When she came to the man of God at the mountain, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to thrust her away but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for she is very upset, and Yahweh has hidden the problem from me, and has told me nothing.”

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

Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my master? 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.”

Then Elisha said to Gehazi, “Dress for travel and take my staff in your hand. Go to her home. If you meet any man, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer him. Lay my staff on the child's face.”

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.

But the mother of the child said, “As Yahweh lives, and as you live, I will not leave you.” So Elisha arose and followed 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.”

Gehazi hurried on ahead of them and laid the staff on the child's face, but the child did not speak or hear. So then Gehazi returned to meet Elisha and told him saying, “The child has not awakened.”

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

When Elisha arrived at the house, the child was dead and was still on the bed.

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

So Elisha went in and shut the door on the child and himself and prayed to Yahweh.

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;

He went up and lay on the child; he put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. He stretched himself out on the boy, and the boy's body grew 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.

Then Elisha got up and walked around the room and again went up and stretched himself out on the boy. The child sneezed seven times and then opened 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.”

So Elisha called Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite!” So he called her, and when she came into the room, Elisha said, “Pick 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.

Then she lay facedown on the ground at his feet and bowed to the ground, and then picked up her son and went 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.”

Then Elisha came again to Gilgal. There was famine in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. He said to his servant, “Put the large pot on the fire and cook 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];

One of them went out into a field to gather vegetables. He found a wild vine and gathered enough wild gourds to fill the fold of his robe. They cut them up and put them into the stew, but did not know what kind they were.

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.

So they poured out the stew for the men to eat. Later, as they were eating, they cried out and said, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” So they could not eat it anymore.

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.

But Elisha said, “Bring some flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Pour it out for the people, so that they may eat.” Then there was no longer anything hurtful 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.”

A man came from Baal Shalishah to the man of God and brought twenty loaves of barley bread in his sack from the new harvest, and fresh ears of grain. He said, “Give this to the people so they can 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”;

His servant said, “What, should I set this before a hundred men?” But Elisha said, “Give this to the people, so they can eat, because Yahweh says, 'They will eat and will have some left.'”

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

So his servant set it before them; they ate, and left some remaining, just as the word of Yahweh promised.