2 Kings 4:8–37

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.

¹⁸Some years later, at harvest time, the boy went out one morning to join his father, who was in the field with the harvest workers. ¹⁹Suddenly he cried out to his father, “My head hurts! My head hurts!”

“Carry the boy to his mother,” the father said to a servant. ²⁰The servant carried the boy back to his mother, who held him in her lap until noon, at which time he died. ²¹She carried him up to Elisha’s room, put him on the bed and left, closing the door behind her. ²²Then 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.”ⁱ

“Never mind,” she answered. ²⁴Then 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.” ²⁵So she set out, and went to Mount Carmel, where Elisha was.

Elisha saw her coming while she was still some distance away, and said to his servant Gehazi, “Look—there comes the woman from Shunem! ²⁶Hurry 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, ²⁷but 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.”

²⁸The woman said to him, “Sir, did I ask you for a son? Didn’t I tell you not to raise my hopes?”

²⁹Elisha turned to Gehazi and said, “Hurry! Take my 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.”

³⁰The 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. ³¹Gehazi 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.”

³²When Elisha arrived, he went alone into the room and saw the boy lying dead on the bed. ³³He 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 about the room, and then went back and again stretched himself over the boy. The boy sneezed seven times, and then opened his eyes. ³⁶Elisha called Gehazi and told him to call the boy’s mother. When she came in, he said to her, “Here’s your son.” ³⁷She fell at Elisha’s feet, with her face touching the ground; then she took her son and left.