Elisha and the Poor Widow's Oil
4 Kingdoms 4, verse 1. The wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know your servant feared the Lord, and the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his servants.” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 2. Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me what you have in the house.” She replied, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but the oil I use to anoint myself.” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 3. Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors, empty vessels; do not gather just a few. 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 4. And you shall go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons. Then you shall pour out into these vessels, and take away what is being filled.” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 5. So she went from him and did so. She shut the door behind herself and her sons. Then they brought the vessels to her, and she poured 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 6. until the vessels were filled. And she said to her son, “Bring me an additional vessel.” And they said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 7. Then she came and told the man of God. And Elisha said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt. Thus you and your sons shall live by means of the rest of the oil.”
Elisha Raises the Shunammite Woman's Son
4 Kingdoms 4, verse 8. Now one day Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a persuasive woman, and she persuaded him to eat some food. So it was, as often as he passed by, he would turn in there to eat some food. 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 9. And the woman said to her husband, “Look now, I know this is a holy man of God who comes to us regularly. 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 10. Let us make a small room upstairs; and let us put a bed for him there, with a table, a stool, a chair, and a lamp stand. And it shall be when he comes to us, he will turn aside into this place.” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 11. Now it happened one day that he came and he went there, and turned aside into the upper room and lay down there. 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 12. Then he said to his servant, Gehazi, “Call this Shunammite woman.” He called her, and she stood before him. 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 13. And he said to Gehazi, “Say now to her, ‘Hear me. You have shown us all this care. What can I do for you? Do you have any request for the king or the commander of the army?’” But she answered, “I dwell among my own people.” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 14. So Elisha said, “What then is to be done for her?” And his servant, Gehazi, replied, “She certainly has no son, and her husband is old.” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 15. Then Elisha called her, and she stood by the door. 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 16. And Elisha said, “About this time next year, you shall embrace a son.” So she said, “No, my lord, do not lie to your maidservant!” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 17. Then as Elisha told her, the woman conceived, and she bore a son when the appointed time came. 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 18. And the child grew. And it came to pass when he went out to his father to the reaping, 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 19. that he said to his father, “My head, my head!” His father said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 20. So he carried him to his mother, and he lay upon her knees till noon and died. 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 21. She took him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God. She went out and closed the door as she left. 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 22. She called to her husband and said, “Please bring to me one of the young men and one of the donkeys. I will ride quickly to the man of God and come back.” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 23. So he said, “Why go to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath.” And she replied, “It is well.” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 24. She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead onward and do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 25. She rode and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. And when the man of God saw her, he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, it is that Shunammite woman! 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 26. 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, “Peace.” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 27. Now she came to the man of God on the hill and took hold of him by the feet, but Gehazi came near to push her away. But the man of God said, “Leave her alone; for her soul is in deep distress, and the Lord hid it from me and did not tell me.” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 28. So she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not tell you not to deceive me?” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 29. Then Elisha said to Gehazi, “Prepare yourself, take my staff in your hand and be on your way. If you meet anyone, you will not greet him. And if anyone greets you, you will not answer him. You shall lay my staff on the face of the child.” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 30. Then the mother of the child said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So Elisha arose and followed her. 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 31. Now Gehazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the child's face; but there was neither voice nor hearing. So he went back to meet him, and told him, saying, “The child is not awakened.” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 32. Elisha went into the house, and there was the child, lying dead on his bed. 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 33. He went into the room and shut the door against the other two, and prayed to the Lord. 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 34. Then he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands; and he bowed himself down upon him, and the flesh of the child warmed. 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 35. He returned and walked back and forth in the house, and he went up and bowed himself down upon the child seven times, and the child opened his eyes. 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 36. Then Elisha called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her. And she came to where he was and he said, “Take your son.” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 37. So she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.
The Other Miracles
4 Kingdoms 4, verse 38. Then Elisha returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land. Now the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and Elisha said to his servant, “Put on the large pot and boil some pottage for the sons of the prophets.” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 39. So one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it a lapful of wild gourds, and threw them into the pot of soup, though they did not know what they were. 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 40. Then they served it to the men to eat. Now, as they were eating the vegetables, they cried out and said, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it. 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 41. So he said, “Take wheat flour and throw it in the pot.” Then Elisha said to his servant Gehazi, “Serve it to the people and let them eat.” Thus there was no longer anything harmful in the pot. 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 42. Then a man came from Baal-Shalisha and brought to the man of God the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley bread and fruit cake. And he said, “Give it to the people and let them eat.” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 43. But his servant said, “Why shall I set this before one hundred men?” Elisha said, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for Thus says the Lord: ‘They shall eat and will leave some behind.’” 4 Kingdoms 4, verse 44. So they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.