UST 2 KI Chapter 4

◄ 2 KI 4 ► ║ ═ ©

4 One day the widow of one of the young prophets came to Elisha and pleaded with him. She told him, “My husband, who was one of the prophets you were training, has died. You know very well that he revered Yahweh greatly. But now someone who lent him money has come and is demanding repayment. I can not pay him back, so he is threatening to take away two of my children as slaves as his payment!” 2 Elisha replied, “What can I do to help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?” She replied, “I only have a container of olive oil.” 3 Elisha said, “Go out to your neighbors and borrow from them as many empty containers as you can. 4 Bring the containers home. Once you and your children are inside the house, shut the door. Then pour olive oil from your container into the containers you have borrowed. When each one is full, set it aside and start filling another one.” 5 So she left Elisha and borrowed as many containers as she could from her neighbors. Then she gathered her children inside her house and shut the door. Her children kept bringing the containers to her, and she kept pouring the oil from her container into them. 6 When she had filled a certain container, her children did not bring her another one. So she called to one of her sons, “Bring me another container!” But he answered, “There are no more containers!” Right then the olive oil stopped flowing. 7 She went to Elisha and told him what had happened. He told her, “Now go and sell the oil. With the money you get, repay what you owe. There will be enough money left over for you to keep buying food for yourself and your children.”

8 One day Elisha went to the city of Shunem. There was a wealthy woman who lived there with her husband. That day she insisted that Elisha come to her house for a meal. So he did, and after that, every time Elisha was in Shunem, he went to her house to eat a meal. 9 One day the woman told her husband, “Please listen to me. I am sure that the man who often comes here is a holy prophet. 10 Let us please build a small room for him on our flat roof. Let us put a bed, a table, a chair, and a lampstand in it. If we do that, whenever he comes here, he will have a place to stay.” 11 One day Elisha came to Shunem and went up to that room to rest. 12 He told his servant Gehazi, “Tell the Shunamite woman who lives here that I want to speak with her.” So Gehazi went to get her. She came and stood just outside Elisha’s room. 13 Elisha told Gehazi, “Tell her that we are both grateful for all the kind things that she has done for us. Then ask her what we can do for her. Ask whether she has a complaint that we may bring to the king or the army commander on her behalf.” When Gehazi told her that, she replied, “I am living peacefully with my friends and neighbors and have no complaint against any of them.” 14 After she left, Elisha asked, “So what we can do for her?” Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is now too old to have children.” 15 Elisha told Gehazi, “Ask her to come back again.” So Gehazi went to get her. She came and stood in front of the open doorway of Elisha’s room. 16 Elisha told her, “By this time next year you will be holding your infant son in your arms.” But she protested, “Sir, please do not deceive me by saying things like that. After all, you are a prophet!”

17 But a few months later, the woman became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son at that time the following year, just as Elisha had predicted. 18 As the boy was growing up, one day his father was working with the men who were harvesting his grain. The boy went out to the field to be with his father. 19 Suddenly the boy exclaimed, “My head hurts very badly!” His father told one of his servants, “Carry him home to his mother.” 20 So the servant carried him home, and his mother held him on her lap all that morning. But then the boy died. 21 She carried him up to Elisha’s room and laid him on the bed. She left him there and went out and closed the door. 22 Then she asked her husband without telling him that their son had died, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey. I want to go quickly to the prophet. I will also come back quickly.” 23 Her husband responded, “Why do you want to go to the prophet today? This is not the day when we celebrate the new moon festival, and it is not the Sabbath, so he will not be leading any religious ceremonies that you can attend.” She replied, “Please just let me go,” and he agreed. 24 So a servant came and saddled the donkey for her. She told her servant, “Get the donkey moving, and let us go. Do not slow down to make it easier for me to ride unless I tell you to do so!” 25 So they traveled as quickly as they could to Mount Carmel, where Elisha was. When Elisha saw her in the distance, he told Gehazi, “Look, here comes that Shunammite woman!

26 Run to her and ask her if everything is all right with her and her husband and with her child!” So Gehazi ran to her and asked her, but she told him that she did not want to stop to answer his questions. 27 When she came to where Elisha was, she bowed down and grasped Elisha’s feet to show that she desperately wanted him to do something for her. Gehazi came over to push her away, but Elisha told him, “Let her stay here! She is feeling great distress about something, but Yahweh has not told me at all what it is.” 28 Then she told Elisha, “Sir, I never asked you to enable me to have a son. In fact, when you told me that I would have a son, I asked you not to deceive me.” 29 Then Elisha realized that something must have happened to her son, so he told Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt so that you can run fast. Take my staff with you and go to her home. Do not stop to talk to anyone on the way. Go quickly to where her son is and lay the staff on the child’s face so that Yahweh may cause him to become alive again.” 30 But the boy’s mother said, “I swear by Yahweh and your own life that I will not leave here and go home until you agree to come with me.” So Elisha returned with her to her home. 31 Gehazi hurried quickly to the woman’s house ahead of them. When he arrived there, he laid the staff on the boy’s face. But he did not say anything, and he did not react when Gehazi spoke to him. So Gehazi went back and met Elisha, who was on his way to Shunem. He told him, “The boy did not become alive again.”

32 When Elisha arrived at the house, he found the boy lying dead on the bed in his room where his mother had put him. 33 Elisha went into the room by himself and shut the door. Then he prayed to Yahweh. 34 Then he climbed onto the bed and lay down on top of the boy’s body. He put his mouth on the boy’s mouth. Then he put his eyes on the boy’s eyes. Then he put his hands on the boy’s hands. He stretched his body out over the boy’s body. After that, the boy’s body started to become warm. 35 Elisha went back down to the house and walked around for a while. Then he went back up to the room. He stretched his body out over the boy’s body again. The boy sneezed seven times, and then he opened his eyes! 36 Then Elisha summoned Gehazi. He told him, “Call the boy’s mother.” So Gehazi went and got her, and when she came to the room, Elisha told her, “You may take your son.” 37 She came into the room and bowed down low in front of Elisha to honor him and thank him. Then she picked up her son and took him back into her house.

38 Then Elisha returned to Gilgal. At that time, there was a famine in that area. One day many young prophets had gathered to hear Elisha’s teaching. He told his servant, “Put a large pot on the fire and make some stew for these men.” 39 One of the prophets went outside to look for wild vegetables to add to the stew. He found a wild vine that had many gourds on it. He collected as many as he could hold in the fold of his robe and brought them back. No one there knew that those gourds were poisonous, so he cut them up and added them to the stew. 40 Those who prepared the stew served it to the prophets. But after the prophets had tasted it, they knew something bad was in it, so they cried out, “Sir, there is something in this stew that would kill us if we ate more of it!” So they could not eat it. 41 Elisha said, “Bring me some flour.” They brought him some, and he threw it in the pot. Then he said, “Go ahead and serve this. The prophets can now eat it safely.” So they ate it, and it did not harm them.

42 One day a man from the city of Baal Shalishah brought Elisha an offering from the first grain he harvested that year. He brought 20 loaves of barley bread and a sack of fresh grain. Elisha told his servant, “Give this food to the group of prophets so that they will have something to eat.” 43 But his servant responded, “I will not be able to feed a hundred prophets with only that much food.” But Elisha replied, “Serve it as a meal to the prophets, because Yahweh says that there will be enough food for everyone. In fact, there will be more than enough!” 44 So he served the food to the prophets. They all ate as much they wanted, and there was more than enough food. That was just what Yahweh had promised would happen.

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UST 2 KI Chapter 4

UST 2 KI Chapter 4