2 Kings 4:1-20 ▼

1 Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying: 'Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD; and the creditor is come to take unto him my two children to be bondmen.'

2 And Elisha said unto her: 'What shall I do for thee? tell me; what hast thou in the house?' And she said: 'Thy handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.'

3 Then he said: 'Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.

4 And thou shalt go in, and shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and pour out into all those vessels; and thou shalt set aside that which is full.'

5 So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons; they brought the vessels to her, and she poured out.

6 And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son: 'Bring me yet a vessel.' And he said unto her: 'There is not a vessel more.' And the oil stayed.

7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said: 'Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy sons of the rest.'

8 And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.

9 And she said unto her husband: 'Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, that passeth by us continually.

10 Let us make, I pray thee, a little chamber on the roof; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick; and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.'

11 And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the upper chamber and lay there.

12 And he said to Gehazi his servant: 'Call this Shunammite.' And when he had called her, she stood before him.

13 And he said unto him: 'Say now unto her: Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host?' And she answered: 'I dwell among mine own people.'

14 And he said: 'What then is to be done for her?' And Gehazi answered: 'Verily she hath no son, and her husband is old.'

15 And he said: 'Call her.' And when he had called her, she stood in the door.

16 And he said: 'At this season, when the time cometh round, thou shalt embrace a son.' And she said: 'Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thy handmaid.'

17 And the woman conceived, and bore a son at that season, when the time came round, as Elisha had said unto her.

18 And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers.

19 And he said unto his father: 'My head, my head.' And he said to his servant: 'Carry him to his mother.'

20 And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.