2 *Kings 4

₁The wife of one of the prophets came to Elisha and asked him to help her. She said: ‘My husband has died and you know that he served the Lord. But he owed another man a lot of money and now that man wants to take my 2 sons to be his slaves.’ ₂Elisha asked her: ‘What do you want me to do for you? Tell me what you have in your house.’ She said: ‘I have nothing in my house. I have only a small jar of olive oil.’ ₃Elisha told her: ‘Go to your friends and neighbours and borrow a lot of empty jars. You must borrow as many as you can get. ₄Then go into your house and lock the door. Then you and your children must fill all the jars with olive oil and you must keep the jars that are full in one place.’ ₅The woman did that and she locked the door behind her. Her sons gave her the pots and jars and she filled all of them with oil. ₆When all the jars were full, she told her son: ‘Bring me some more jars.’ But the boy said to her: ‘There are no more jars.’ ₇And then the olive oil stopped coming out of the small jar. She told this to the man of God and he said: ‘Now go and sell the olive oil and pay your debt. You and your sons can use the money that is left over to live on.’

₈When Elisha went into the town of Shunem, a rich woman invited him to come and eat with her. Then he went to her house to eat every time he came to that town. ₉One day she said to her husband: ‘Listen, the man of God who often comes to us is a holy man. ₁₀Let's make a small upper room for him and put a bed, a chair, a table and a lamp in it. Then he can stay there every time he comes to us.’

₁₁They did that and one day when Elisha was there, he lay down on the bed in the upper room. ₁₂He told his servant Gehazi to go and call the woman of Shunem. Gehazi called her and she came and stood near the door. ₁₃Then Elisha said to Gehazi: ‘Tell her: You have done a lot to help us. What can we do for you? Can I ask the king or the chief of the army to do something for you?’ The woman answered: ‘No, I live with my own people.’ ₁₄Later Elisha said to Gehazi: ‘I wonder what I can do for her.’ Then Gehazi said: ‘I know what you can do for her. She does not have a son and her husband is old.’ ₁₅Elisha said to Gehazi: ‘Tell her to come here to me.’ She came and she stood near the door. ₁₆Then Elisha said to the woman: ‘Next year this time you will hold your own baby boy in your arms.’ The woman said: ‘No, sir, you are a man of God. You must not lie to me.’ ₁₇But the woman became pregnant and she had a baby boy at the time that Elisha had said.

₁₈When the boy was older, he went with his father to the wheat_field where the people were cutting wheat. ₁₉Then he said to his father: ‘My head hurts, my head hurts.’ His father told one of the servants: ‘Carry my son to his mother.’ ₂₀The servant picked up the boy and took him to his mother. The boy sat on her knees until noon and then he died. ₂₁His mother took him to the upper room and she put him down on the bed of the man of God. She locked the door and went down the stairs. ₂₂She called her husband and said: ‘Please send me a servant and a donkey. I must go to the man of God.’ ₂₃Her husband asked: ‘Why do you want to go to him today? It is not the New-moon-feast or the Sabbath day.’ The woman told her husband not to worry. ₂₄She put a saddle on the donkey and told the servant: ‘You must chase the donkey to run fast. Go slowly only when I tell you to.’

₂₅When she came near the man of God at Mount Carmel, he saw her coming and he told his servant Gehazi: ‘Look, here comes the woman of Shunem. ₂₆Run to her and ask her if all is well with her and her husband and her child.’ The woman answered: ‘Everything is all right.’ ₂₇But when she came to the man of God on the mountain, she bowed before him and she held Elisha's feet. Gehazi came to take her away, but the man of God said: ‘Do not stop her. She is very sad and the Lord has not told me why.’ ₂₈The woman said to Elisha: ‘I did not ask you for a son. I told you not to lie to me or give me false hope.’ ₂₉Elisha said to Gehazi: ‘Put on your clothes and take my staff and go to her house. If you see someone on the way, do not greet him and if he greets you, do not answer him. Go and put my staff on the boy's face.’ ₃₀The boy's mother said to Elisha: ‘Please come with me. As sure as the Lord lives and you live, I will not go if you do not come with me.’ Elisha got up and he went with her.

₃₁Gehazi went in front of them and he got to the woman's house before them. He laid the staff on the boy's face but nothing happened. The boy did not move or talk. Gehazi came back to Elisha and he said: ‘The child did not wake up.’ ₃₂When Elisha came to the house, he saw that the boy was dead on the bed. ₃₃He closed the door and he prayed to the Lord. ₃₄Then he lay over the boy and he put his mouth on the boy's mouth, his eyes on the boy's eyes and his hands on the boy's hands. He lay like that on the boy until the boy's body became warm. ₃₅Then Elisha got off the bed and he walked from one side of the room to the other side. Then he lay over the boy again, and then the boy sneezed 7 times and he opened his eyes. ₃₆Elisha called Gehazi and said to him: ‘Call the woman of Shunem.’ Gehazi called her and she came to Elisha. He said: ‘You can take your son, he is alive.’ ₃₇She bowed down at Elisha's feet and lay with her face to the floor. Then she picked up her child and went out.

₃₈Elisha went back to the town of Gilgal. It had not rained for a long time and there was a famine in the land. One day while he was busy teaching the prophets, he told the servant with him: ‘Put the big pot on the fire and cook some food for the prophets.’ ₃₉One of the prophets went out to the field to look for food. He found a wild plant and he picked some of its fruit and he filled his bag with it. When he came back he cut the fruit into pieces and he put it into the pot, but he did not know what fruit it was. ₄₀Later they gave food to everyone to eat, but when they started to eat the food, they shouted: ‘Man of God, the food has poison in it.’ They could not eat it. ₄₁Elisha said they must bring flour and he put the flour into the pot and said: ‘Now you can give the food to the men.’ They ate the food and there was nothing wrong with it.

₄₂One of the men from the town of Baal-Shalishah gave the man of God 20 loaves of barley bread. The barley and wheat was still fresh. Elisha said: ‘Give it to the men so that they can eat.’ ₄₃But his servant said: ‘I can not give this bread to 100 men. It is not enough for them.’ Elisha said: ‘Give it to them so that they can eat, because the Lord says they will eat enough and there will still be some bread left over.’ ₄₄The servant gave them the bread. They started to eat and they all had enough bread, and there was some bread left over. It happened just like the Lord had said it would happen.