The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Kings 04
1 Now a certain woman of the wives of
the sons ofthe prophets cried out to Elisha,
saying, “Your servant my husband is dead.
You know that your servant feared Yahweh. Now the creditor has come to take for
himself my two children to be slaves.”
2 Elisha said to her, “What should 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 Then he said, “Go, borrow empty containers from all your neighbors. Don’t
borrow just a few containers.
4 Go in and shut the door on you and
on your sons, and pour oil into all those
containers; and set aside those which are
full.”
5 So she went from him, and shut the
door on herself and on her sons. They
brought the containers to her, and she
poured oil.
6 When the containers were full, she said
to her son, “Bring me another container.”
He said to her, “There isn’t another container.” Then the oil stopped flowing.
7 Then she came and told the man of God.
He said, “Go, sellthe oil, and pay your debt;
and you and your sons live on the rest.”
8 One day Elisha went to Shunem, where
there was a prominent woman; and she
persuaded him to eat bread. So it was, that
as often as he passed by, he turned in there
to eat bread.
9 She said to her husband, “See now, I
perceive that this is a holy man of God who
passes by us continually.
10 Please, let’s make a little room on the
roof. Let’s set a bed, a table, a chair, and a
lamp stand for him there. When he comes
to us, he can stay there.”
11 One day he came there, and he went to
the room and lay there.
12 He said to Gehazi his servant, “Callthis
Shunammite.” When he had called her,
she stood before him.
13 He said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Behold, you have cared for us with all this
care. What is to be done for you? Would
you like to be spoken for to the king, or to
the captain of the army?’ ”
She answered, “I dwell among my own
people.”
14 He said, “What then is to be done for
her? Gehazi answered, “Most certainly she
has no son, and her husband is old.”
15 He said, “Call her.” When he had called
her, she stood in the door.
16 He said, “At this season next year, you
will embrace a son.”She said, “No, my lord, you man of God,
do not lie to your servant.”
17 The woman conceived, and bore a son
atthat season when the time came around,
as Elisha had said to her.
18 When the child was grown, one day he
went out to his father to the reapers.
19 He said to his father, “My head! My
head!”He said to his servant, “Carry him to his
mother.”
20 When he had taken him and brought
him to his mother, he sat on her knees until
noon, and then died.
21 She went up and laid him on the man
of God’s bed, and shutthe door onhim, and
went out.
22 She called to her husband and said,
“Please send me one of the servants, and
one of the donkeys, that I may run to the
man of God and come again.”
23 He said, “Why would you want to go
to him today? It is not a new moon or a
Sabbath.” She said, “It’s all right.”
24 Then she saddled a donkey, and said to
her servant, “Drive, and go forward! Don’t
slow down for me, unless I ask you to.”
25 So she went, and came to the man of
God to Mount Carmel. When the man of
God saw her afar off, he said to Gehazi his
servant, “Behold,there is the Shunammite.
26 Please run now to meet her, and ask
her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your
husband? Is it well with your child?’ ”
She answered, “It is well.”
27 When she came to the man of God to
the hill, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi
came near to thrust her away; but the man
of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul
is troubled within her; and Yahweh has
hidden it from me, and has not told me.”
28 Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son,
my lord? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not deceive me’?”
29 Then he said to Gehazi, “Tuck your
cloak into your belt, take my staff in your
hand, and go your way. If you meet any
man, don’t greet him; and if anyone greets
you, don’t answer him again. Then lay my
staff on the child’s face.”
30 The child’s mother said, “As Yahweh
lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave
you.” So he arose, and followed her.
31 Gehazi went ahead of them, and laid
the staff on the child’s face; but there was
no voice and no hearing. Therefore he
returned to meet him, and told him, “The
child has not awakened.”
32 When Elisha had come into the house,
behold, the child was dead, and lying on
his bed.
33 He went in therefore, and shut the
door on them both, and prayed to Yahweh.
34 He went up and lay on the child, and
put his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes
on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. He
stretched himself on him; and the child’s
flesh grew warm.
35 Then he returned, and walked in the
house once back and forth, then went up
andstretchedhimself out onhim. Thenthe
child sneezed seven times, and the child
opened his eyes.
36 He called Gehazi, and said, “Call this
Shunammite!” So he called her.
When she had come in to him, he said,
“Take up your son.”
37 Then she went in, fell at his feet, and
bowed herself to the ground; then she
picked up her son, and went out.
38 Elisha came again to Gilgal. There was
a famine in the land; and the sons of the
prophets were sitting before him; and he
said to his servant, “Get the large pot, and
boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”
39 One went out into the field to gather
herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered
a lap full of wild gourds from it, and came
and cut them up into the pot of stew; for
they didn’t recognize them.
40 So they poured out for the men to eat.
As they were eating some of the stew, they
cried out and said, “Man of God, there is
death in the pot!” And they could not eat
it.
41 But he said, “Then bring meal.” He
threw it into the pot; and he said, “Serve it
to thepeople,thattheymay eat.” Andthere
was nothing harmful in the pot.
42 A man from Baal Shalishah came, and
brought the man of God some bread of the
first fruits: twenty loaves of barley and
fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said,
“Give to the people, that they may eat.”
43 His servant said, “What, should I set
this before a hundred men?”
But he said, “Give it to the people, that
they may eat; for Yahweh says, ‘They will
eat, and will have some left over.’ ”
44 So he set it before them and they ate
and had some left over, according to Yahweh’s word.