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2 Kings 4:1-44 — The Widow's Oil; The Shunammite's Son

2Kgs.4.1-44

¹Now a certain woman from among the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared Yahweh. Now the creditor has come to take my two children as his slaves.” ²Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She said, “Your servant has nothing at all in the house except a flask of oil.” ³He said, “Go and borrow vessels from outside, from all your neighbors—empty vessels. Do not gather only a few.” ⁴Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons, and pour into all these vessels. Set aside each one that is full." ⁵So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. They kept bringing the vessels to her, and she kept pouring. ⁶When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” But he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” Then the oil stopped flowing. ⁷Then she came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons can live on the rest.” ⁸One day Elisha passed through Shunem, where there was a prominent woman, and she urged him to eat a meal. So whenever he passed by, he turned in there to eat. ⁹She said to her husband, “See now, I know that this one who passes by us continually is a holy man of God.” ¹⁰Please let us make a small upper room on the roof and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp. Then whenever he comes to us, he can stay there." ¹¹One day he came there, and he went up to the upper room and lay down there. ¹²Then he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him. ¹³And he said to him, “Please say to her, 'See, you have taken all this trouble for us. What can be done for you? Should I speak on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?'” But she said, “I dwell among my own people.” ¹⁴So he said, “What then is to be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Indeed, she has no son, and her husband is old.” ¹⁵He said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶And he said, “About this time next year, you will be holding a son.” She said, “No, my lord, man of God; do not lie to your servant.” ¹⁷But the woman conceived and bore a son at that appointed time, about this time next year, just as Elisha had spoken to her. ¹⁸When the child had grown, one day he went out to his father among the reapers. ¹⁹He said to his father, “My head, my head!” So his father said to the servant, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰So he carried him and brought him to his mother, and the child sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. ²¹Then she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door behind him, and went out. ²²Then she called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so that I may run to the man of God and come back.” ²³He said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither New Moon nor Sabbath .” She said, “It is well .” ²⁴Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Drive on. Do not slow the pace for me unless I tell you.” ²⁵So she went and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, there is that Shunammite.” ²⁶Please 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 said, 'It is well.' ²⁷When she came to the man of God at the mountain, she seized his feet. Gehazi came near to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is in bitter distress, and Yahweh has hidden it from me and has not told me.” ²⁸Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, 'Do not deceive me'?” ²⁹Then he said to Gehazi, “Tuck up your cloak, take my staff in your hand, and go. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer him. Lay my staff on the face of the boy.” ³⁰But the mother of the boy said, “As Yahweh lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her. ³¹Now Gehazi had gone on ahead of them and laid the staff on the face of the boy, but there was no sound and no response. So he returned to meet him and told him, “The boy has not awakened.” ³²When Elisha came into the house, behold, the boy was dead, laid on his bed. ³³So he went in, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to Yahweh. ³⁴Then he went up and lay upon the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. As he stretched himself over him, the flesh of the child became warm. ³⁵Then he got up again and walked back and forth in the house, and went up and stretched himself over him. The boy sneezed seven times, and the boy opened his eyes. ³⁶Then he called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her, and when she came to him, he said, “Take up your son.” ³⁷She came and fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took up her son and went out. ³⁸And Elisha returned to Gilgal, and there was famine in the land. As the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.” ³⁹Then one of them went out into the field to gather herbs, and he found a wild vine and gathered from it a garment full of wild gourds. He came and sliced them into the pot of stew, though they did not know what they were. ⁴⁰So they poured it out for the men to eat. But as they were eating the stew, they cried out, “There is death in the pot, man of God!” And they could not eat it. ⁴¹But he said, “Then bring flour.” And he threw it into the pot and said, “Pour it out for the people, that they may eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot. ⁴²Then a man came from Baal-shalishah and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh grain in his sack . And he said, “Give it to the people, that they may eat.” ⁴³But his servant said, “How am I to set this before a hundred men?” And he said, “Give it to the people, that they may eat, for thus says Yahweh: 'They shall eat and have some left over.'” ⁴⁴So he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of Yahweh.

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4/11/2026

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