4 One day a woman who was a wife of one of the prophets-in-training, called out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, died, and you yourself know that your servant served Yahweh. Now the moneylender has come to take two of my children in payment to become his slaves.”

2 “Hmmh, what could I do to help you?” Elisha responded. “Tell me, what have you got in your house?”

“Your servant’s got nothing in the house except a flask of oil,” she replied.

3 He told her, “Go and ask for empty containers from all of your neighbours. Make sure you get plenty of them. 4 Then go and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour oil into all those containers. Once each one’s full, set it aside.” 5 So she went and she shut the door of her house with her and her sons inside. They would bring the empty containers to her, and she poured the oil. 6 Eventually when she told one of her sons to bring the next container, he told her that there wasn’t any more, and at that point, the oil stopped flowing.

7 Then she went and informed the man of God, and he told her, “Go and sell the oil and pay off your debt. Then you and your sons can live on the rest.”