CHAPTER 4

¹And a certain woman from the wives of the acolyte prophets had cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant, my husband, died. And you know that your servant was a LORD fearer. And the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” ²And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing at all in the house except a cruse of oil.” ³And he said, “Go, borrow vessels for yourself from outside, from all your neighbors—empty vessels, and not just a few. ⁴And you shall come and close the door behind you and behind your sons, and you shall pour into these vessels, and the full ones you shall set aside.” ⁵And she went from him and closed the door behind her and behind her sons. They were bringing the vessels to her and she was pouring. ⁶And it happened when the vessels were full that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel,” and he said to her, “There are no more vessels.” And the oil stopped. ⁷And she came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons will live off what is left.”

⁸And one day Elisha was passing through Shunem, and there was a wealthy woman there. And she urged him to break bread, and so, whenever he passed through, he would turn aside there to break bread. ⁹And she said to her husband, “Look, pray, I know that he is a holy man of God who always passes by us. ¹⁰Let us make, pray, a little upper chamber and put a bed there for him and a table and chair and lamp, and so when he comes to us, he will turn aside there.” ¹¹And one day he came there and turned aside to the upper chamber and slept there. ¹²And he said to Gehazi his lad, “Call this Shunammite,” and he called her, and she stood before him. ¹³And he said to him, “Say to her, pray: ‘Look, you have gone to all this bother for us. What can be done for you? Shall a word be said for you to the king or to the commander of the army?’” And she said, “In the midst of my people I dwell.” ¹⁴And he said, “What can be done for her?” And Gehazi said, “Why, she has no son, and her husband is an old man.” ¹⁵And he said, “Call her,” and he called her, and she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶And he said, “At this fixed time, at this very season, you will embrace a son.” And she said, “Don’t, my lord, man of God, don’t mislead your servant.” ¹⁷And the woman conceived and bore a son at that fixed time, at that very season, as Elisha had spoken to her. ¹⁸And the child grew, and one day he went out to his father, to the reapers. ¹⁹And he said to his father, “My head, my head!” And he said concerning the lad, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰And he was carried and brought to his mother, and he stayed on her knees till noon, and he died. ²¹And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and closed the door on him and went out. ²²And she called to her husband and said, “Send me, pray, one of the lads and one of the donkeys, that I may hurry to the man of God and come back. ²³And he said, “Why are you going to him? Today is neither new moon nor sabbath.” And she said, “Farewell.” ²⁴And she saddled the donkey and said to her lad, “Drive it and go. Do not hold me back in riding unless I say to you.” ²⁵And she went and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel, and it happened, when the man of God saw her from a distance, that he said to Gehazi, “Here is that Shunammite. ²⁶Now hurry to meet her, pray, 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.” ²⁷And she came to the man of God on the mountain and clung to his legs. And Gehazi approached to push her back, and the man of God said, “Let her be, for she is deeply embittered, and the LORD has hidden it from me and not told me.” ²⁸And she said, “Did I ask of my lord for a son? Did I not say, ‘You should not deceive me’?” ²⁹And he said to Gehazi, “Gird your loins and take my staff in your hand and go. Should you meet a man, do not greet him, and should a man greet you, do not answer him. And you shall put my staff on the lad’s face.” ³⁰And the lad’s mother said, “As the LORD lives and as you live, I will not forsake you.” And he rose and went after her. ³¹And Gehazi had gone before them and put the staff on the lad’s face, but there was no voice and no sound, and he turned back to meet him, and he told him, saying, “The lad has not awakened.” ³²And Elisha came into the house, and, look, the lad was dead, laid out on his bed. ³³And he came in and closed the door behind the two of them and prayed to the LORD. ³⁴And he climbed up and lay over the child and put his mouth over his mouth and his eyes over his eyes and his palms over his palms and stretched out over him, and the child’s body grew warm. ³⁵And he went back and walked in the house this way and that, and he climbed up and stretched out over him, and the lad sneezed a full seven times, and the lad opened his eyes. ³⁶And he called to Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite,” and he called her, and she came to him, and he said, “Carry away your son.” ³⁷And she came and fell at his feet and bowed to the ground, and she carried away her son and went out.

³⁸And Elisha had gone back to Gilgal. And there was famine in the land, and the acolyte prophets were sitting before him. And he said to his lad, “Put the big pot on the fire and cook a stew for the acolyte prophets.” ³⁹And one of them went out to the field to gather sprouts and found a field vine and gathered from it field gourds, as much as his garment could hold, and he came and sliced them into the stew pot, for they did not know. ⁴⁰And they poured for the men to eat, and it happened, as they were about to eat, they cried out, “Death is in the pot, man of God!” And they could not eat. ⁴¹And he said, “Fetch flour.” And he flung it into the pot, and he said, “Pour for the people, that they may eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

⁴²And a man had come from Baal-Shalishah, and he brought the man of God first fruits, twenty loaves of barley bread and fresh grain in his sack. And he said, “Give it to the people, that they may eat.” ⁴³And his attendant said, “What? Shall I set this before a hundred men?” And he said, “Give it to the people that they may eat. For thus said the LORD, ‘Eat and leave over.’” ⁴⁴And he set it before them, and they ate and left over, according to the word of the LORD.