2 Kings 4:1-21 ▼

1 Now there happened to be a certain woman who had been the wife of a member of the Guild of Prophets. She cried out to Elisha, |My husband who served you has died, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. But a creditor has come to take away my children into indentured servitude!|

2 Elisha responded, |What shall I do for you? Tell me what you have in your house.| She replied, |Your servant has nothing in the entire house except for a flask of oil.|

3 He told her, |Go out to all of your neighbors in the surrounding streets and borrow lots of pots from them. Don't get just a few empty vessels, either.

4 Then go in and shut the door behind you, taking only your children, and pour oil into all of the pots. As each one is filled, set it aside.|

5 So she left Elisha, shut the door behind her and her children, and while they kept on bringing vessels to her, she kept on pouring oil.

6 When the last of the vessels had been filled, she told her son, |Bring me another pot!| But he replied, |There isn't even one pot left.| Then the oil stopped flowing.

7 After this, she went and told the man of God what had happened. So he said, |Go sell the oil, pay your debt, and you and your children will be able to live on the proceeds.|

8 Some time later, Elisha went to Shunem, where he met a prominent and wealthy woman who persuaded him to have a meal with her. As a result, whenever he was in the area, he stopped by to eat with her.

9 So she had a talk with her husband. |Look here! I've learned that this is a holy and godly man who comes by here on a regular basis.

10 Now then, let's build a small upper room and put a bed in it for him there, along with a table, a chair, and a lamp stand. That way, when he comes to visit, he can rest there.|

11 One day, Elisha came by to visit and stopped in to rest in the upper chamber.

12 He told his attendant Gehazi, |Call this Shunammite.| So when he had summoned her, she stood in front of him.

13 Elisha told him, |Ask her, 'Look how you've gone to all this trouble to care for us! What can I do for you? Do you wish to be mentioned to the king or to the head of the army?'| She replied, |I'm at home living among my own people.|

14 He responded, |What, then, is to be done on her behalf?| Gehazi answered, |Well, she has no son and her husband is growing old.|

15 |Call her,| Elisha ordered. After he called her, she came and stood in the doorway,

16 and he told her, |About this time next year you will be embracing a son.| |No, sir! Please, as a godly man, don't mislead your servant!|

17 But the woman did conceive and did bear a son at that very same time the next year, just as Elisha had told her.

18 After the child had grown up a bit, one day he went out to visit his father, who was with the harvesters.

19 He told his father, |My head! My head!| So his father ordered his servant, |Carry him over to his mother!|

20 So the servant carried him over to his mother, where he rested on her lap until mid-day, and then he died.

21 The woman went upstairs, laid him on the bed belonging to the man of God, and shut the door, leaving him behind as she left.