4:1 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”
4:2 Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?” “Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a little oil.”
4:3 Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few.
4:4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”
4:5 She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring.
4:6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.” But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.
4:7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”
4:8 One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat.
4:9 She said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God.
4:10 Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”
4:11 One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there.
4:12 He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him.
4:13 Elisha said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’” She replied, “I have a home among my own people.”
4:14 “What can be done for her?” Elisha asked. Gehazi said, “Well, she has no son and her husband is old.”
4:15 Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway.
4:16 “About this time next year,” Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.” “No, my lord,” she objected. “Don’t mislead your servant, O man of God!”
4:17 But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.
4:18 The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers.
4:19 “My head! My head!” he said to his father. His father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.”
4:20 After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died.
4:21 She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.
4:22 She called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.”
4:23 “Why go to him today?” he asked. “It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.” “It’s all right,” she said.
4:24 She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on; don’t slow down for me unless I tell you.”
4:25 So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, “Look! There’s the Shunammite!
4:26 Run to meet her and ask her, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’” “Everything is all right,” she said.
4:27 When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me why.”
4:28 “Did I ask you for a son, my lord?” she said. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?”
4:29 Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy’s face.”
4:30 But the child’s mother said, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.
4:31 Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”
4:32 When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch.
4:33 He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the LORD.
4:34 Then he got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy’s body grew warm.
4:35 Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
4:36 Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” And he did. When she came, he said, “Take your son.”
4:37 She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.
4:38 Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region. While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these men.”
4:39 One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine. He gathered some of its gourds and filled the fold of his cloak. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were.
4:40 The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out, “O man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.
4:41 Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He put it into the pot and said, “Serve it to the people to eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.
4:42 A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said.
4:43 “How can I set this before a hundred men?” his servant asked. But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the LORD says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’”
4:44 Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the LORD.
4:1 Now a certain woman from among the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared Jehovah. And the creditor has come to take my two children to himself as servants.
4:2 And Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in your house? And she said, Your servant has nothing at all in the house, except a jar of oil.
4:3 And he said, Go and borrow vessels outside, from all your neighbors, empty vessels, and not just a few.
4:4 Then go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour out into all those vessels; and each one you fill set aside.
4:5 So she went away from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons; and they brought the vessels to her, and she poured out into them.
4:6 And when she had filled the vessels, she said to her son, Bring me another vessel. But he said to her, There is no other vessel. And the oil stopped.
4:7 And she went and told the man of God. And he said, Go and sell the oil, and pay your debt; and you and your sons can live off the rest.
4:8 And one day Elisha was passing through Shunem; and there was a wealthy woman there, who compelled him to have a meal. So whenever he passed through, he would turn aside and have a meal there.
4:9 And she said to her husband, Now I know that this man who continually passes through unto us is a holy man of God.
4:10 Let us make a little walled upper room and put a bed and a table and a chair and a lamp for him; and when he comes to us, he can turn aside there.
4:11 Then one day he came there, and he turned aside into the upper room and lay down there.
4:12 And he said to Gehazi his attendant, Call this Shunammite. And he called her, and she stood before him.
4:13 And he said to him, Say to her, You have gone to all this trouble for us; what can be done for you? Should you be spoken of to the king or to the captain of the army? And she said, I dwell in the midst of my people.
4:14 And he said, What then can be done for her? And Gehazi said, Indeed she has no son, and her husband is old.
4:15 Then he said, Call her. And he called her, and she stood at the door.
4:16 And he said, At this time next year you shall embrace a son. And she said, No, my lord, O man of God, do not deceive your servant.
4:17 And the woman conceived and bore a son at that time the next year, as Elisha had told her.
4:18 And when the child grew up, one day he went out to his father among the reapers;
4:19 And he said to his father, My head! My head! And he said to his attendant, Carry him to his mother.
4:20 And when he had carried him in and brought him to his mother, the child lay upon her lap until noon, then died.
4:21 And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and she shut the door behind him and went out.
4:22 Then she called her husband and said, Send me one of the attendants and one of the donkeys that I may run to the man of God and return.
4:23 And he said, Why will you go to him today? It is neither the new moon nor the Sabbath. But she said, It will be fine.
4:24 Then she saddled the donkey and said to her attendant, Urge the beast, and do not restrain the ride for me unless I tell you.
4:25 So she went. And she came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. And when the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to Gehazi his attendant, That is the Shunammite over there.
4:26 Run now to meet her, and say to her, Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child? And she said, It is well.
4:27 And when she came to the man of God on the mountain, she clung to his feet. And Gehazi approached to push her away, but the man of God said, Leave her alone; for she is bitter in soul, and Jehovah has hidden the matter from me and has not told me about it.
4:28 And she said, Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, Do not mislead me?
4:29 Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go. If you meet anyone, do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do not respond to him. And lay my staff upon the face of the boy.
4:30 And the mother of the boy said, As Jehovah lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. And he rose up and followed her.
4:31 And Gehazi passed on before them and set the staff upon the boy s face, but there was no sound or reaction. Therefore he returned to meet him and told him, saying, The boy has not awakened.
4:32 And when Elisha went into the house, there was the dead boy, laid out on his bed.
4:33 And he went in and shut the door behind the two of them, and he prayed to Jehovah.
4:34 Then he got up and lay on the child, and he put his mouth on his mouth and his eyes on his eyes and his palms on his palms; and he stretched himself over him, and the flesh of the child became warm.
4:35 And he got down and walked about in the house once to and fro. Then he got up and stretched himself over him, and the boy sneezed seven times. Then the boy opened his eyes.
4:36 And he called Gehazi and said, Call that Shunammite. So he called her. And when she came to him, he said, Take up your son.
4:37 And she came and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground. And she took up her son and went out.
4:38 Then Elisha returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land. And the sons of the prophets sat before him. And he said to his attendant, Put on the big pot, and boil some stew for the sons of the prophets.
4:39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs. And he found a wild vine and gathered from it a lapful of wild gourds. And he came and cut them up into the pot of stew, though they did not know what they were.
4:40 And they poured out the stew for the men to eat. And while they were eating some of the stew, they cried out and said, O man of God, there is poison in the pot. And they were not able to eat it.
4:41 And he said, Then bring some flour. And he threw it into the pot and said, Pour it out for the people that they may eat. And there was nothing harmful in the pot.
4:42 Then a man came from Baal-shalishah and brought to the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Elisha said, Give it to the people that they may eat.
4:43 And his servant said, How can I set this before a hundred people? And he said, Give it to the people that they may eat; for thus says Jehovah, They shall eat and have some left.
4:44 So he set it before them; and they ate, and there was some left, according to the word of Jehovah.