2 Kings 4–6

4TH CHAPTER

Elisha and the Widow’s Olive Oil

¹One of the wives of a disciple of the prophets called to Elisha, “Sir, my husband is dead! You know how he feared the Lord. Now a creditor has come to take my two children as slaves.” 

²Elisha asked her, “What should I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?” 

She answered, “I have nothing in the house except a jar of olive oil.” 

³Elisha said, “Borrow many empty containers from all your neighbors. ⁴Then close the door behind you and your children, and pour oil into all those containers. When one is full, set it aside.” 

⁵So she left him and closed the door behind her and her children. The children kept bringing containers to her, and she kept pouring. ⁶When the containers were full, she told her son, “Bring me another container.” 

He told her, “There are no more containers.” So the olive oil stopped flowing. ⁷She went and told the man of God. 

He said, “Sell the oil, and pay your debt. The rest is for you and your children.” 

Elisha Brings a Shunem Woman’s Son Back to Life

⁸One day Elisha was traveling through Shunem, where a rich woman lived. She had invited him to eat ⸤with her⸥. So whenever he was in the area, he stopped in to eat. 

⁹She told her husband, “I know he’s a holy man of God. And he regularly travels past our house. ¹⁰Let’s make a small room on the roof and put a bed, table, chair, and lamp stand there for him. He can stay there whenever he comes to visit us.” 

¹¹One day he came ⸤to their house⸥, went into the upstairs room, and rested there. ¹²He told his servant Gehazi, “Call this Shunem woman.” 

Gehazi called her, and she stood in front of him. ¹³Elisha said to Gehazi, “Ask her what we can do for her, since she has gone to a lot of trouble for us. Maybe she would like us to speak to the king or the commander of the army for her.” 

She answered, “I’m already living among my own people.” 

¹⁴“What should we do for her?” Elisha asked. 

Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.” 

¹⁵Elisha said, “Call her.” So Gehazi called her, and she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶Elisha said, “At this time next spring, you will hold a baby boy in your arms.” 

She answered, “Don’t say that, sir. Don’t lie to me. You’re a man of God.” 

¹⁷But the woman became pregnant and had a son at that time next year, as Elisha had told her. 

¹⁸Several years later the boy went to his father, who was with the harvest workers. ¹⁹⸤Suddenly,⸥ he said to his father, “My head! My head!” 

The father told his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 

²⁰The servant picked him up and brought him to his mother. The boy sat on her lap until noon, when he died. ²¹She took him upstairs and laid him on the bed of the man of God, left ⸤the room⸥, and shut the door behind her. ²²She called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys. I will go quickly to the man of God and come back again.” 

²³Her husband asked, “Why are you going to him today? It isn’t a New Moon Festival or a day of rest—a holy day.” 

But she said goodbye to him. 

²⁴She saddled the donkey. Then she told her servant, “Lead on. Don’t slow down unless I tell you.” ²⁵So she came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. 

When he saw her coming at a distance, he told his servant Gehazi, “There is the woman from Shunem. ²⁶Run to meet her and ask her how she, her husband, and the boy are doing.” 

“Everyone’s fine,” she answered. 

²⁷When she came to the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi went to push her away. But the man of God said, “Leave her alone. She is bitter. The Lord has hidden the reason from me. He hasn’t told me.” 

²⁸The woman said, “I didn’t ask you for a son. I said, ‘Don’t raise my hopes.’ ” 

²⁹The man of God told Gehazi, “Put on a belt, take my shepherd’s staff in your hand, and go. Whenever you meet anyone, don’t stop to greet him. If he greets you, don’t stop to answer him. Lay my staff on the boy’s face.” 

³⁰The boy’s mother said, “I solemnly swear, as the Lord and you live, I will not leave without you.” So Elisha got up and followed her. 

³¹Gehazi went ahead of them and put the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or sign of life. So Gehazi came back to meet the man of God. Gehazi told him, “The boy didn’t wake up.” 

³²When Elisha came to the house, the dead boy was lying on Elisha’s bed. ³³He went into the room, closed the door, and prayed to the Lord. ³⁴Then he lay on the boy, putting his mouth on the boy’s mouth, his eyes on the boy’s eyes, his hands on the boy’s hands. He crouched over the boy’s body, and it became warm. ³⁵Elisha got up, walked across the room and came back, and then got back on the bed and crouched over him. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. ³⁶Elisha called Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunem woman.” Gehazi called her. When she came to him, he said, “Take your son.” 

³⁷Then she immediately bowed at his feet. She took her son and left. 

Elisha and the Poisoned Food

³⁸When Elisha went back to Gilgal, there was a famine in the country. ⸤One day,⸥ while the disciples of the prophets were meeting with him, he told his servant, “Put a large pot on the fire, and cook some stew for the disciples of the prophets.” 

³⁹One of them went into the field to gather vegetables and found a wild vine. He filled his clothes with wild gourds. Then he cut them into the pot of stew without knowing what they were. ⁴⁰They dished out the food for the men to eat. As they were eating the stew, they cried out, “There’s death in the pot, man of God!” So they couldn’t eat it. 

⁴¹Elisha said, “Bring some flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Dish it out for the people to eat.” Then there was nothing harmful in the pot. 

Elisha Feeds a Hundred People

⁴²A man from Baal Shalisha brought bread made from the first harvested grain, 20 barley loaves, and fresh grain to the man of God. The man of God said, “Give it to the people to eat.” 

⁴³But his servant asked, “How can I set this in front of a hundred people?” 

“Give it to the people to eat,” the man of God said. “This is what the Lord says: They will eat and even have some left over.” 

⁴⁴The servant set it in front of them. They ate and had some left over, as the Lord had predicted. 

5TH CHAPTER

Elisha Heals Naaman

¹Naaman, the commander of the Aramean king’s army, was respected and highly honored by his master. The Lord had given Aram a victory through Naaman. This man was a good soldier, but he had a skin disease. 

²Once, when the Arameans went on raids, they had brought back a little girl from Israel. She became the servant of Naaman’s wife. ³The girl told her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet in Samaria. Then the prophet could cure him of his skin disease.” 

⁴Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. 

⁵The king of Aram said, “You may go. I will also send a letter to the king of Israel.” When Naaman left, he took 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and 10 sets of clothing with him. ⁶He brought the letter to the king of Israel. It read, “I’m sending my officer Naaman with this letter. Cure him of his skin disease.” 

⁷When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes ⸤in distress⸥. He asked, “Am I God? Can I kill someone and then bring him back to life? This man sends someone to me so that I can cure his skin disease! All of you should realize and understand that he’s trying to pick a fight with me.” 

⁸But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a messenger to the king. He asked, “Why did you tear your clothes? Please let Naaman come to me and find out that there is a prophet in Israel.” 

⁹Naaman came with his horses and chariot and stopped at the entrance to Elisha’s home. ¹⁰Elisha sent a messenger to him. He said, “Wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River, and your skin will be healthy and clean.”^a

¹¹But Naaman became angry and left. He said, “I thought he would at least come out ⸤of his house⸥, stand somewhere, call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the ⸤infected⸥ place, and heal the skin disease. ¹²The Abana and Pharpar Rivers in Damascus have better water than any of the rivers in Israel. Couldn’t I wash in them and be clean?” So he turned around and left in anger. 

¹³But Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “Master, if the prophet had asked you to do some extraordinary act, wouldn’t you have done it? Why shouldn’t you do as he said: ‘Wash and be clean’?” 

¹⁴So he went to dip himself in the Jordan River seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. His skin became healthy again like a little child’s skin. ¹⁵Then he and all his men returned to the man of God. Naaman stood in front of Elisha and said, “Now I know that there’s no god in the whole world, except the God of Israel. So please accept a present from me.” 

¹⁶Elisha said, “I solemnly swear, as the Lord whom I serve lives, I will not accept it.” Naaman urged him to take it, but he refused. 

¹⁷So Naaman said, “If you won’t take it, please have someone give me as much dirt as a pair of mules can carry. From now on I will sacrifice to the Lord alone. I will not offer any burnt offering or sacrifice to any other gods. ¹⁸May the Lord forgive me when my master goes to the temple of Rimmon to worship, leans on my arm, and I have to bow down in the temple of Rimmon. When I do this, may the Lord forgive me for this one thing.” 

¹⁹Elisha told Naaman, “Go in peace.” 

After Elisha had left him and gone some distance, ²⁰Gehazi, the servant of Elisha (the man of God), thought, “My master let this Aramean Naaman go without accepting what he had brought. As sure as the Lord lives, I’ll run after Naaman and get something from him.” ²¹So Gehazi went after Naaman. When Naaman saw Gehazi running after him, he got down from his chariot to speak to him. “Is something wrong?” he asked. 

²²Gehazi answered, “No. My master has sent me. He says, ‘Just now two young men from the disciples…