2 Kings 4:8–17

Elisha and the Rich Woman from Shunem

⁸One 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. ⁹She said to her husband, “I am sure that this man who comes here so often is a holy man. ¹⁰Let’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.”

¹¹One day Elisha returned to Shunem and went up to his room to rest. ¹²He told his servant Gehazi to go and call the woman. When she came, ¹³he 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.

¹⁴Elisha 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!”

¹⁷But, as Elisha had said, at about that time the following year she gave birth to a son.