< 2 Kings 4 >
1 And a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets hath cried unto Elisha, saying, 'Thy servant, my husband, is dead, and thou hast known that thy servant was fearing Jehovah, and the lender hath come to take my two children to him for servants.'
One day the widow of one of [Yahweh’s] prophets came to Elisha and cried out to him, “My husband, who worked with you, is dead. You know that he revered Yahweh [very much]. But now a man to whom he owed a lot of money has come to me. [And because I cannot pay back the money, he is threatening] to take away my two sons to be his slaves [as payment for what I owe him]!”
2 And Elisha saith unto her, 'What do I do for thee? declare to me, what hast thou in the house?' and she saith, 'Thy maid-servant hath nothing in the house except a pot of oil.'
Elisha replied, “What can I do to help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?” She replied, “We have only a container of [olive] oil; we have nothing else.”
3 And he saith, 'Go, ask for thee vessels from without, from all thy neighbours — empty vessels — let [them] not be few;
Elisha said, “Go to your neighbors and borrow from them as many empty jars as you can.
4 and thou hast entered, and shut the door upon thee, and upon thy sons, and hast poured out into all these vessels, and the full ones thou dost remove.'
Then take the jars into your house with your sons. Shut the door. Then pour olive oil from your container into the other jars. When each jar is full, set it aside [and fill another jar. Keep doing that until all the jars are full].”
5 And she goeth from him, and shutteth the door upon her, and upon her sons; they are bringing nigh unto her, and she is pouring out,
[So she did what Elisha told her to do]. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she kept filling them.
6 and it cometh to pass, at the filling of the vessels, that she saith unto her son, 'Bring nigh unto me a vessel more,' and he saith unto her, 'There is not a vessel more;' and the oil stayeth.
Soon all the jars were full. So she said to one of her sons, “Bring me another jar!” But he replied, “There are no more jars!” And then the olive oil stopped flowing.
7 And she cometh and declareth to the man of God, and he saith, 'Go, sell the oil, and repay thy loan; and thou [and] thy sons do live of the rest.'
When she told Elijah [what had happened], he said to her, “Now sell the jars of oil. And [with the money you get, ] pay what you owe, and there will be enough extra money to keep buying food for yourself and your sons.” [So she did that].
8 And the day cometh that Elisha passeth over unto Shunem, and there [is] a great woman, and she layeth hold on him to eat bread, and it cometh to pass, at the time of his passing over, he turneth aside thither to eat bread,
One day Elisha went to Shunem [town]. There was a wealthy woman who lived there [with her husband]. One day she invited Elisha to her house for a meal. [Elisha went there and] from then on, every time Elisha was in Shunem, he went to their house to eat a meal.
9 and she saith unto her husband, 'Lo, I pray thee, I have known that a holy man of God he is, passing over by us continually;
One day the woman said to her husband, “I am sure that this man who often comes here is a prophet [who brings messages] from God.
10 let us make, I pray thee, a little upper chamber of the wall, and we set for him there a bed, and a table, and a high seat, and a candlestick; and it hath been, in his coming in unto us, he doth turn aside thither.'
I think we should make a small room for him on our [flat] roof, and put a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp in it. If we do that, whenever he comes here, he will have a place to stay.” [So they did that].
11 And the day cometh, that he cometh in thither, and turneth aside unto the upper chamber, and lieth there,
One day Elisha returned to Shunem, and he went up to that room to rest.
12 and he saith unto Gehazi his young man, 'Call for this Shunammite;' and he calleth for her, and she standeth before him.
He said to his servant Gehazi, “Tell the woman that I want to speak to her.” [So the servant went and told her]. When she came [to the doorway of Elisha’s room],
13 And he saith to him, 'Say, I pray thee, unto her, Lo, thou hast troubled thyself concerning us with all this trouble; what — to do for thee? is it to speak for thee unto the king, or unto the head of the host?' and she saith, 'In the midst of my people I am dwelling.'
Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tell her that we both appreciate all the kind things that she has done for us. Then ask her what we can do for her. Ask, ‘Do you want [me to go to] the king or the army commander, to request something for you?’” [Gehazi told her, ] and she replied, “No, [he does not need to do that, because] my family/relatives are able to give me what I need.”
14 And he saith, 'And what — to do for her?' and Gehazi saith, 'Verily she hath no son, and her husband [is] aged.'
[Later, ] Elisha asked Gehazi, “What do you think that we can do for that woman?” He replied, “She does not have a son, and her husband is an old man. [So maybe we should ask Yahweh to enable her to have a son].”
15 And he saith, 'Call for her;' and he calleth for her, and she standeth at the opening,
Elisha told Gehazi, “Call her back again.” [So Gehazi went and called her]. And when the woman returned, as she stood in the doorway,
16 and he saith, 'At this season, according to the time of life, thou art embracing a son;' and she saith, 'Nay, my lord, O man of God, do not lie unto thy maid-servant.'
Elisha said to her, “About this time next year you will be holding your [infant] son in your arms.” But she protested, “O, sir, you are a prophet [who brings messages] from God, so please do not deceive/lie to me by saying things like that!”
17 And the woman conceiveth and beareth a son, at this season, according to the time of life, that Elisha spake of unto her.
But a few months later, the woman became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son at that time the following year, just like Elisha had predicted.
18 And the lad groweth, and the day cometh that he goeth out unto his father, unto the reapers,
When the child was older, one day he went out to the fields to see his father, who was [working] with the men who were harvesting [grain].
19 and he saith unto his father, 'My head, my head;' and he saith unto the young man, 'Bear him unto his mother;'
[Suddenly] the boy exclaimed, “My head [hurts]! My head [hurts a lot]!” His father said to one of the servants, “Carry him home to his mother!”
20 and he beareth him, and bringeth him in unto his mother, and he sitteth on her knees till the noon, and dieth.
So the servant carried him home, and his mother held him on her lap. But at noontime the boy died.
21 And she goeth up, and layeth him on the bed of the man of God, and shutteth [the door] upon him, and goeth out,
She carried him up [the steps] to the prophet’s room and laid him on the bed. She left him there and went out and shut the door.
22 and calleth unto her husband, and saith, 'Send, I pray thee, to me, one of the young men, and one of the asses, and I run unto the man of God, and return.'
She then called out to her husband, saying, “Send to me one of the servants and a donkey, so that I can ride [on it] quickly to the prophet, and then come back!” [But she did not tell her husband that their son had died].
23 And he saith, 'Wherefore art thou going unto him to-day? — neither new moon nor sabbath!' and she saith, 'Peace [to thee]!'
Her husband [called out to her and] said, “Why [do you want to go] today? This is not the day when we celebrate the Festival of the New Moon, and it is not a Sabbath day!” But she only replied, “[Just do what I requested and] everything will be all right.”
24 And she saddleth the ass, and saith unto her young man, 'Lead, and go, do not restrain riding for me, except I have said [so] to thee.'
So she [told the servant to] put saddles on [two] donkeys, and as they left, she said, “Hurry! Do not slow down unless t tell you to do that!”
25 And she goeth, and cometh in unto the man of God, unto the hill of Carmel, and it cometh to pass, at the man of God's seeing her from over-against, that he saith unto Gehazi his young man, 'Lo, this Shunammite;
As they approached Carmel Mountain, where Elisha was, Elisha saw her in the distance. He said to Gehazi, “Look, the woman from Shunem is coming!
26 now, run, I pray thee, to meet her, and say to her, Is there peace to thee? is there peace to thy husband? is there peace to the lad?' and she saith, 'Peace.'
Run to her, and ask her if everything is all right with her and her husband and with her child!” [So Gehazi ran to her and asked her, but she did not tell Gehazi anything.] She only said, “Yes, everything is fine.”
27 And she cometh in unto the man of God, unto the hill, and layeth hold on his feet, and Gehazi cometh nigh to thrust her away, and the man of God saith, 'Let her alone, for her soul [is] bitter to her, and Jehovah hath hidden [it] from me, and hath not declared [it] to me.'
But when she came to where Elisha was, she [prostrated herself on the ground in front of Elisha and] took hold of his feet. Gehazi started to push her away, but Elisha said, “(Do not push her away/Leave her alone)! Something is troubling her very much, but Yahweh has not told me what it is.”
28 And she saith, 'Did I ask a son from my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me?'
Then she said to Elisha, “O, sir, I did not ask you to enable me to give birth to a son [RHQ]. And I told you not to lie to me about that!” [RHQ]
29 And he saith to Gehazi, 'Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thy hand, and go; when thou dost meet a man, thou dost not salute him; and when a man doth salute thee, thou dost not answer him; and thou hast laid my staff on the face of the youth.'
Then Elisha [realized that something must have happened to her son. So he] said to Gehazi, “Get ready [to leave immediately]. Take my staff/walking stick and go [to her home]. Do not [stop to] talk to anyone on the way. Go quickly [to where her son is] and lay the staff on the child’s face. [If you do that, perhaps Yahweh will enable him to be well].”
30 And the mother of the youth saith, 'Jehovah liveth, and thy soul liveth — if I leave thee;' and he riseth and goeth after her.
But the boy’s mother said, “Just [as certain] as Yahweh lives and you live, I will not go home if you do not go with me.” So Elisha returned with her [to her home].
31 And Gehazi hath passed on before them, and layeth the staff on the face of the youth, and there is no voice, and there is no attention, and he turneth back to meet him, and declareth to him, saying, 'The youth hath not awaked.'
Gehazi hurried quickly, and [when he got to the woman’s home, ] he laid the staff/walking stick on the child’s face, but the child did not move or say anything. So Gehazi returned to meet Elisha [along the road], and told him, “The child is still dead.”
32 And Elisha cometh in to the house, and lo, the youth is dead, laid on his bed,
When Elisha reached the house, he saw that the boy was lying dead on his bed.
33 and he goeth in and shutteth the door upon them both, and prayeth unto Jehovah.
Elisha went into the room by himself and shut the door and prayed to Yahweh.
34 And he goeth up, and lieth down on the lad, and putteth his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands, and stretcheth himself upon him, and the flesh of the lad becometh warm;
Then he lay down on the boy’s body, and put his mouth on the boy’s mouth, and put his eyes on the boy’s eyes, and put his hands on the boy’s hands. Then the boy’s body started to become warm!
35 and he turneth back and walketh in the house, once hither and once thither, and goeth up and stretcheth himself upon him, and the youth sneezeth till seven times, and the youth openeth his eyes.
Elisha got up and walked back and forth in the room [several times]. Then he stretched his body on the boy’s body again. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes!
36 And he calleth unto Gehazi, and saith, 'Call unto this Shunammite;' and he calleth her, and she cometh in unto him, and he saith, 'Lift up thy son.'
Then Elisha summoned Gehazi. He said, “Call the boy’s mother!” [So Gehazi went and called her, ] and when she came in, Elisha said, “Here, take your son!”
37 And she goeth in, and falleth at his feet, and boweth herself to the earth, and lifteth up her son, and goeth out.
She [gratefully] prostrated herself at Elisha’s feet. Then she picked up her son and carried him downstairs.
38 And Elisha hath turned back to Gilgal, and the famine [is] in the land, and the sons of the prophets are sitting before him, and he saith to his young man, 'Set on the great pot, and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets.'
Then Elisha returned to Gilgal. But at that time there was (a famine/very little food) in that area. One day as the group of prophets was sitting in front of Elisha [listening to what he was teaching], he said to his servant, “Put a large pot on [the stove] and make some stew for these men.”
39 And one goeth out unto the field to gather herbs, and findeth a vine of the field, and gathereth of it gourds of the field — the fulness of his garment — and cometh in and splitteth [them] into the pot of pottage, for they knew [them] not;
One of the prophets went out to the fields to gather some vegetables. But he gathered [only] some wild gourds and put them in his cloak and brought them back. He shredded them and put them in the pot, but he did not know that the gourds were poisonous.
40 and they pour out for the men to eat, and it cometh to pass at their eating of the pottage, that they have cried out, and say, 'Death [is] in the pot, O man of God!' and they have not been able to eat.
He served the stew to the prophets, but after the men had eaten only a couple bites, they cried out, “Elisha, there is something in the pot that will kill us!” So they would not eat it.
41 And he saith, 'Then bring ye meal;' and he casteth into the pot, and saith, 'Pour out for the people, and they eat;' and there was no evil thing in the pot.
Elisha said, “Bring me some flour.” [They brought him some, and] he threw it in the pot and he said, “It is all right now. You can eat it.” And they ate it, and it did not harm them.
42 And a man hath come from Baal-Shalishah, and bringeth in to the man of God bread of first-fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in its husk, and he saith, 'Give to the people, and they eat.'
One day a man from Baal-Shalishah [town] brought to Elisha a sack of freshly cut grain and 20 loaves of barley bread, made from the first grain that they harvested [that year]. Elisha said [to his servant], “Give it to the group of prophets, so that they can eat it.”
43 And his minister saith, 'What — do I give this before a hundred men?' and he saith, 'Give to the people, and they eat, for thus said Jehovah, Eat and leave;'
But his servant exclaimed, “Do you think that we can feed 100 of us prophets with only that much?” [RHQ] But Elisha replied, “Give it to the prophets so that they can eat it, because Yahweh says that there will be plenty for all of them, and there will be some left over!”
44 and he giveth before them, and they eat and leave, according to the word of Jehovah.
After his servant gave it to the prophets, they ate [all that they wanted], and there was food left over, just as Yahweh had promised.