1 And one of the wiues of the sonnes of the Prophets cryed vnto Elisha, saying, Thy seruant mine husband is dead, and thou knowest, that thy seruant did feare the Lord: and the creditour is come to take my two sonnes to bee his bondmen. 2 Then Elisha saide vnto her, What shall I do for thee? tell mee, what hast thou at home? And she sayd, Thine handmayd hath nothing at home, saue a pitcher of oyle. 3 And he sayde, Goe, and borowe thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, emptie vessels, and spare not. 4 And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the doore vpon thee and vpon thy sonnes, and powre out into all those vessels, and set aside those that are full. 5 So shee departed from him, and shut the doore vpon her, and vpon her sonnes. And they brought to her, and she powred out. 6 And when the vessels were full, shee sayde vnto her sonne, Bring mee yet a vessel. And hee said vnto her, There is no moe vessels. And the oyle ceased. 7 Then shee came and tolde the man of God. And he saide, Goe, and sell the oyle, and pay them that thou art in debt vnto, and liue thou and thy children of the rest. 8 And on a time Elisha came to Shunem, and there a woman of great estimation constrained him to eate bread: and as he passed by, he turned in thither to eate bread. 9 And she sayde vnto her husband, Beholde, I know now, that this is an holy man of God that passeth by vs continually. 10 Let vs make him a litle chamber, I pray thee, with walles, and let vs set him there a bed, and a table, and a stoole, and a candlesticke, that hee may turne in thither when hee commeth to vs. 11 And on a day, hee came thither and turned into the chamber, and lay therein, 12 And sayd to Gehazi his seruant, Call this Shunammite: and when hee called her, she stood before him. 13 Then he sayd vnto him, Say vnto her now, Beholde, thou hast had all this great care for vs, what shall we doe for thee? Is there any thing to bee spoken for thee to the King or to the captaine of the hoste? And shee answered, I dwell among mine owne people. 14 Againe he sayde, What is then to be done for her? Then Gehazi answered, In deede she hath no sonne, and her husband is olde. 15 Then said he, Cal her. And hee called her, and shee stoode in the doore. 16 And he said, At this time appointed, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a sonne. And she sayd, Oh my Lord, thou man of God, doe not lye vnto thine handmayd. 17 So the woman conceiued, and bare a sonne at that same season, according to the time of life, that Elisha had sayd vnto her. 18 And when the childe was growen, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father, and to the reapers. 19 And he sayde to his father, Mine head, mine head. Who sayd to his seruant, Beare him to his mother. 20 And hee tooke him and brought him to his mother, and hee sate on her knees till noone, and dyed. 21 Then shee went vp, and layed him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the doore vpon him, and went out. 22 Then she called to her husband, and sayd, Send with me, I pray thee, one of the yong men and one of the asses: for I will haste to the man of God, and come againe. 23 And he sayd, Wherefore wilt thou goe to him to day? it is neither newe moone nor Sabbath day. And she answered, All shalbe well. 24 Then she sadled an asse, and sayde to her seruant, Driue, and goe forward: staye not for me to get vp, except I bid thee. 25 So she went, and came vnto the man of God to mount Carmel. And when the man of God sawe her ouer against him, he sayd to Gehazi his seruant, Beholde, the Shunammite. 26 Runne nowe, I say, to meete her, and say vnto her, Art thou in health? is thine husband in health? and is the child in health? And she answered, We are in health. 27 And when shee came to the man of God vnto the moutaine, she caught him by his feete: and Gehazi went to her, to thrust her away: but the man of God said, Let her alone: for her soule is vexed within her, and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told it mee. 28 Then she said, Did I desire a sonne of my lord? did I not say, Deceiue me not? 29 Then he sayd to Gehazi, Gird thy loynes, and take my staffe in thine hand, and goe thy way: if thou meete any, salute him not: and if any salute thee, answere him not: and laye my staffe vpon the face of the childe. 30 And the mother of the childe sayde, As the Lord liueth, and as thy soule liueth, I will not leaue thee. Therefore he arose, and followed her. 31 But Gehazi was gone before them, and had layed the staffe vpon the face of the childe, but he neither spake nor heard: wherefore hee returned to meete him, and told him, saying, The childe is not waken. 32 Then came Elisha into the house, and beholde, the childe was dead, and layed vpon his bedde. 33 He went in therefore, and shut the doore vpon them twayne, and prayed vnto the Lord. 34 After he went vp, and lay vpon the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes vpon his eies, and his hands vpon his handes, and stretched himselfe vpon him, and the flesh of the child waxed warme. 35 And hee went from him, and walked vp and downe in the house, and went vp and spred himselfe vpon him: then the childe neesed seuen times, and opened his eyes. 36 Then he called Gehazi, and sayd, Call this Shunammite. So he called her, which came in vnto him. And he said vnto her, Take thy sonne. 37 And she came, and fell at his feete, and bowed her selfe to the ground, and tooke vp her sonne, and went out. 38 Afterward Elisha returned to Gilgal, and a famine was in the land, and the children of the Prophets dwelt with him. And hee sayd vnto his seruant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the children of the Prophets. 39 And one went out into the fielde, to gather herbes, and founde, as it were, a wilde vine, and gathered thereof wilde gourdes his garment ful, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew it not. 40 So they powred out for the men to eate: and when they did eate of the pottage, they cryed out, and sayde, O thou man of God, death is in the pot: and they could not eate thereof. 41 Then he said, Bring meale. And hee cast it into the potte, and sayd, Powre out for the people, that they may eate: and there was none euill in the pot. 42 Then came a man from Baal-shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, euen twenty loaues of barley, and full eares of corne in the huske. And hee saide, Giue vnto the people, that they may eate. 43 And his seruant answered, How shoulde I set this before an hundreth men? He sayd againe, Giue it vnto the people, that they may eate: for thus sayth the Lord, They shall eate, and there shall remaine. 44 So he set it before them, and they did eate, and left ouer, according to the word of the Lord.
Elisha Helps a Poor Widow
1 The widow of a member of a group of prophets went to Elisha and said, “Sir, my husband has died! As you know, he was a God-fearing man, but now a man he owed money to has come to take away my two sons as slaves in payment for my husband's debt.”
2 “What shall I do for you?” he asked. “Tell me, what do you have at home?”
“Nothing at all, except a small jar of olive oil,” she answered.
3 “Go to your neighbors and borrow as many empty jars as you can,” Elisha told her. 4 “Then you and your sons go into the house, close the door, and start pouring oil into the jars. Set each one aside as soon as it is full.”
5 So the woman went into her house with her sons, closed the door, took the small jar of olive oil, and poured oil into the jars as her sons brought them to her. 6 When they had filled all the jars, she asked if there were any more. “That was the last one,” one of her sons answered. And the olive oil stopped flowing. 7 She went back to Elisha, the prophet, who said to her, “Sell the olive oil and pay all your debts, and there will be enough money left over for you and your sons to live on.”
Elisha and the Rich Woman from Shunem
8 One day Elisha went to Shunem, where a rich woman lived. She invited him to a meal, and from then on every time he went to Shunem he would have his meals at her house. 9 She said to her husband, “I am sure that this man who comes here so often is a holy man. 10 Let's build a small room on the roof, put a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp in it, and he can stay there whenever he visits us.”
11 One day Elisha returned to Shunem and went up to his room to rest. 12 He told his servant Gehazi to go and call the woman. When she came, 13 he said to Gehazi, “Ask her what I can do for her in return for all the trouble she has had in providing for our needs. Maybe she would like me to go to the king or the army commander and put in a good word for her.”
“I have all I need here among my own people,” she answered.
14 Elisha asked Gehazi, “What can I do for her then?”
He answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is an old man.”
15 “Tell her to come here,” Elisha ordered. She came and stood in the doorway, 16 and Elisha said to her, “By this time next year you will be holding a son in your arms.”
“Oh!” she exclaimed. “Please, sir, don't lie to me. You are a man of God!”
17 But, as Elisha had said, at about that time the following year she gave birth to a son.
18 Some years later, at harvest time, the boy went out one morning to join his father, who was in the field with the harvest workers. 19 Suddenly he cried out to his father, “My head hurts! My head hurts!”
“Carry the boy to his mother,” the father said to a servant. 20 The servant carried the boy back to his mother, who held him in her lap until noon, at which time he died. 21 She carried him up to Elisha's room, put him on the bed and left, closing the door behind her. 22 Then she called her husband and said to him, “Send a servant here with a donkey. I need to go to the prophet Elisha. I'll be back as soon as I can.”
23 “Why do you have to go today?” her husband asked. “It's neither a Sabbath nor a New Moon Festival.”
“Never mind,” she answered. 24 Then she had the donkey saddled, and ordered the servant, “Make the donkey go as fast as it can, and don't slow down unless I tell you to.” 25 So she set out and went to Mount Carmel, where Elisha was.
Elisha saw her coming while she was still some distance away, and he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, there comes the woman from Shunem! 26 Hurry to her and find out if everything is all right with her, her husband, and her son.”
She told Gehazi that everything was all right, 27 but when she came to Elisha, she bowed down before him and took hold of his feet. Gehazi was about to push her away, but Elisha said, “Leave her alone. Can't you see she's deeply distressed? And the Lord has not told me a thing about it.”
28 The woman said to him, “Sir, did I ask you for a son? Didn't I tell you not to get my hopes up?”
29 Elisha turned to Gehazi and said, “Hurry! Take my walking stick and go. Don't stop to greet anyone you meet, and if anyone greets you, don't take time to answer. Go straight to the house and hold my stick over the boy.”
30 The woman said to Elisha, “I swear by my loyalty to the living Lord and to you that I will not leave you!” So the two of them started back together. 31 Gehazi went on ahead and held Elisha's stick over the child, but there was no sound or any other sign of life. So he went back to meet Elisha and said, “The boy didn't wake up.”
32 When Elisha arrived, he went alone into the room and saw the boy lying dead on the bed. 33 He closed the door and prayed to the Lord. 34 Then he lay down on the boy, placing his mouth, eyes, and hands on the boy's mouth, eyes, and hands. As he lay stretched out over the boy, the boy's body started to get warm. 35 Elisha got up, walked around the room, and then went back and again stretched himself over the boy. The boy sneezed seven times and then opened his eyes. 36 Elisha called Gehazi and told him to call the boy's mother. When she came in, he said to her, “Here's your son.” 37 She fell at Elisha's feet, with her face touching the ground; then she took her son and left.
Two More Miracles
38 Once, when there was a famine throughout the land, Elisha returned to Gilgal. While he was teaching a group of prophets, he told his servant to put a big pot on the fire and make some stew for them. 39 One of them went out in the fields to get some herbs. He found a wild vine and picked as many gourds as he could carry. He brought them back and sliced them up into the stew, not knowing what they were. 40 The stew was poured out for the men to eat, but as soon as they tasted it they exclaimed to Elisha, “It's poisoned!”—and wouldn't eat it. 41 Elisha asked for some meal, threw it into the pot, and said, “Pour out some more stew for them.” And then there was nothing wrong with it.
42 Another time, a man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing Elisha twenty loaves of bread made from the first barley harvested that year, and some freshly-cut heads of grain. Elisha told his servant to feed the group of prophets with this, 43 but he answered, “Do you think this is enough for a hundred men?”
Elisha replied, “Give it to them to eat, because the Lord says that they will eat and still have some left over.” 44 So the servant set the food before them, and as the Lord had said, they all ate, and there was still some left over.