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Elisha Helps a Poor Widow
One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the LORD. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.”
One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the LORD. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.”
The Widow’s Oil
Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD; and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.”
Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD; and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.”
“What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?”
“Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied.
“Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied.
Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.”
And Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors.
Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels at large for yourself from all your neighbors, even empty vessels; do not get a few.
Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.”
“And you shall go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour out into all these vessels, and you shall set aside what is full.”
So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another.
So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons; they were bringing the vessels to her and she poured.
Soon every container was full to the brim!
“Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons.
“There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing.
“Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons.
“There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing.
When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not one vessel more.” And the oil stopped.
When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, “Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what is left over.”
Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons can live on the rest.”
Elisha and the Woman from Shunem
One day Elisha went to the town of Shunem. A wealthy woman lived there, and she urged him to come to her home for a meal. After that, whenever he passed that way, he would stop there for something to eat.
The Shunammite Woman
Now there came a day when Elisha passed over to Shunem, where there was a prominent woman, and she persuaded him to eat food. And so it was, as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat food.
She said to her husband, “I am sure this man who stops in from time to time is a holy man of God.
She said to her husband, “Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God passing by us continually.
Let’s build a small room for him on the roof and furnish it with a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp. Then he will have a place to stay whenever he comes by.”
“Please, let us make a little walled upper chamber and let us set a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; and it shall be, when he comes to us, that he can turn in there.”
One day Elisha returned to Shunem, and he went up to this upper room to rest.
One day he came there and turned in to the upper chamber and rested.
He said to his servant Gehazi, “Tell the woman from Shunem I want to speak to her.” When she appeared,
Then he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” And when he had called her, she stood before him.
Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tell her, ‘We appreciate the kind concern you have shown us. What can we do for you? Can we put in a good word for you to the king or to the commander of the army?’”
“No,” she replied, “my family takes good care of me.”
“No,” she replied, “my family takes good care of me.”
He said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Behold, you have been careful for us with all this care; what can I do for you? Would you be spoken for to the king or to the captain of the army?’” And she answered, “I live among my own people.”
Later Elisha asked Gehazi, “What can we do for her?”
Gehazi replied, “She doesn’t have a son, and her husband is an old man.”
Gehazi replied, “She doesn’t have a son, and her husband is an old man.”
So he said, “What then is to be done for her?” And Gehazi answered, “Truly she has no son and her husband is old.”
“Call her back again,” Elisha told him. When the woman returned, Elisha said to her as she stood in the doorway,
He said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the doorway.
“Next year at this time you will be holding a son in your arms!”
“No, my lord!” she cried. “O man of God, don’t deceive me and get my hopes up like that.”
“No, my lord!” she cried. “O man of God, don’t deceive me and get my hopes up like that.”
Then he said, “At this season next year you will embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord, O man of God, do not lie to your maidservant.”
But sure enough, the woman soon became pregnant. And at that time the following year she had a son, just as Elisha had said.
The woman conceived and bore a son at that season the next year, as Elisha had said to her.
One day when her child was older, he went out to help his father, who was working with the harvesters.
The Shunammite’s Son
When the child was grown, the day came that he went out to his father to the reapers.
Suddenly he cried out, “My head hurts! My head hurts!”
His father said to one of the servants, “Carry him home to his mother.”
His father said to one of the servants, “Carry him home to his mother.”
He said to his father, “My head, my head.” And he said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.”
So the servant took him home, and his mother held him on her lap. But around noontime he died.
When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her lap until noon, and then died.
She carried him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and left him there.
She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door behind him and went out.
She sent a message to her husband: “Send one of the servants and a donkey so that I can hurry to the man of God and come right back.”
Then 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 return.”
“Why go today?” he asked. “It is neither a new moon festival nor a Sabbath.”
But she said, “It will be all right.”
But she said, “It will be all right.”
He said, “Why will you go to him today? It is neither new moon nor sabbath.” And she said, “It will be well.”
So she saddled the donkey and said to the servant, “Hurry! Don’t slow down unless I tell you to.”
Then she saddled a donkey and said to her servant, “Drive and go forward; do not slow down the pace for me unless I tell you.”
As she approached the man of God at Mount Carmel, Elisha saw her in the distance. He said to Gehazi, “Look, the woman from Shunem is coming.
So she went and came to the man of God to Mount Carmel.
When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Behold, there is the Shunammite.
When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Behold, there is the Shunammite.
Run out to meet her and ask her, ‘Is everything all right with you, your husband, and your child?’”
“Yes,” the woman told Gehazi, “everything is fine.”
“Yes,” the woman told Gehazi, “everything is fine.”
“Please 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 answered, “It is well.”
But when she came to the man of God at the mountain, she fell to the ground before him and caught hold of his feet. Gehazi began to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone. She is deeply troubled, but the LORD has not told me what it is.”
When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came near to push her away; but the man of God said, “Let her alone, for her soul is troubled within her; and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.”
Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? And didn’t I say, ‘Don’t deceive me and get my hopes up’?”
Then she said, “Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me’?”
Then he said to Gehazi, “Gird up your loins and take my staff in your hand, and go your way; if you meet any man, do not salute him, and if anyone salutes you, do not answer him; and lay my staff on the lad’s face.”
But the boy’s mother said, “As surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, I won’t go home unless you go with me.” So Elisha returned with her.
The mother of the lad said, “As the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” And he arose and followed her.
Gehazi hurried on ahead and laid the staff on the child’s face, but nothing happened. There was no sign of life. He returned to meet Elisha and told him, “The child is still dead.”
Then Gehazi passed on before them and laid the staff on the lad’s face, but there was no sound or response. So he returned to meet him and told him, “The lad has not awakened.”
When Elisha arrived, the child was indeed dead, lying there on the prophet’s bed.
When Elisha came into the house, behold the lad was dead and laid on his bed.
He went in alone and shut the door behind him and prayed to the LORD.
So he entered and shut the door behind them both and prayed to the LORD.
Then he lay down on the child’s body, placing his mouth on the child’s mouth, his eyes on the child’s eyes, and his hands on the child’s hands. And as he stretched out on him, the child’s body began to grow warm again!
And 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, and he stretched himself on him; and the flesh of the child became warm.
Elisha got up, walked back and forth across the room once, and then stretched himself out again on the child. This time the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes!
Then he returned and walked in the house once back and forth, and went up and stretched himself on him; and the lad sneezed seven times and the lad opened his eyes.
Then Elisha summoned Gehazi. “Call the child’s mother!” he said. And when she came in, Elisha said, “Here, take your son!”
He called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, “Take up your son.”
She fell at his feet and bowed before him, overwhelmed with gratitude. Then she took her son in her arms and carried him downstairs.
Then she went in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground, and she took up her son and went out.
Miracles during a Famine
Elisha now returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land. One day as the group of prophets was seated before him, he said to his servant, “Put a large pot on the fire, and make some stew for the rest of the group.”
The Poisonous Stew
When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”
One of the young men went out into the field to gather herbs and came back with a pocketful of wild gourds. He shredded them and put them into the pot without realizing they were poisonous.
Then one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, for they did not know what they were.
Some of the stew was served to the men. But after they had eaten a bite or two they cried out, “Man of God, there’s poison in this stew!” So they would not eat it.
So they poured it out for the men to eat. And as they were eating of the stew, they cried out and said, “O man of God, there is death in the pot.” And they were unable to eat.
Elisha said, “Bring me some flour.” Then he threw it into the pot and said, “Now it’s all right; go ahead and eat.” And then it did not harm them.
But he said, “Now bring meal.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Pour it out for the people that they may eat.” Then there was no harm in the pot.
One day a man from Baal-shalishah brought the man of God a sack of fresh grain and twenty loaves of barley bread made from the first grain of his harvest. Elisha said, “Give it to the people so they can eat.”
Now a man came from Baal-shalishah, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And he said, “Give them to the people that they may eat.”
“What?” his servant exclaimed. “Feed a hundred people with only this?”
But Elisha repeated, “Give it to the people so they can eat, for this is what the LORD says: Everyone will eat, and there will even be some left over!”
But Elisha repeated, “Give it to the people so they can eat, for this is what the LORD says: Everyone will eat, and there will even be some left over!”
His attendant said, “What, will I set this before a hundred men?” But he said, “Give them to the people that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, ‘They shall eat and have some left over.’”