2 Kings 4–6

CHAPTER 4

The Widow’s Oil

¹Now a certain woman of the wives of ^athe sons of the prophets cried out to ¹Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared Yahweh; and ^bthe creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.”

²And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your servant-woman has nothing in the house except ^aa jar of oil.”

³Then he said, “Go, ask for vessels for yourself, from those outside, from all your neighbors, even empty vessels; do not get a few.

⁴“And you shall go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour out into all these vessels, and you shall set aside what is full.”

⁵So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons; they were bringing the vessels to her and she poured.

⁶Now it happened that when ^athe vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not one vessel more.” And the oil stopped.

⁷Then she came and told ^athe man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons can live on the rest.”

The Shunammite Woman Will Bear a Son

⁸Now there came a day when Elisha passed over to ^aShunem, where there was a ¹prominent woman, and she prevailed upon him to eat ²food. Now it happened, as often as he passed by, that he turned in there to eat ³food.

⁹And she said to her husband, “Behold now, I know that this is a holy ^aman of God passing by us continually.

¹⁰“Please, let us ^amake a little walled upper chamber and let us set a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; and it will be, when he comes to us, that he can turn in there.”

¹¹Now it happened that one day he came there and turned in to the upper chamber, and there he ¹lay down.

¹²Then he said to ^aGehazi his young man, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him.

¹³And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Behold, you have been ¹careful for us with all this ²care; what can I do for you? Would you be spoken for to the king or to the commander of the army?’” And she ³answered, “I live among my own people.”

¹⁴So he said, “What then is to be done for her?” And Gehazi ¹answered, “Truly she has no son, and her husband is old.”

¹⁵And he said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway.

¹⁶Then he said, “^aAt this season ¹next year you will embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord, O man of God, ^bdo not lie to your servant-woman.”

¹⁷Then the woman conceived and bore a son at that season ¹the next year, as Elisha had said to her.

A Dead Boy Opens His Eyes

¹⁸Then the child was grown. And the day came that he went out to his father to the reapers.

¹⁹And he said to his father, “My head, my head.” And he said to ¹his young man, “Carry him to his mother.”

²⁰Then he carried him and brought him to his mother, and he sat on her knees until noon, and then died.

²¹Then she went up and ^alaid him on the bed of ^bthe man of God and shut the door behind him and went out.

²²And she called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and return.”

²³And he said, “Why will you go to him today? It is neither ^anew moon nor sabbath.” And she said, “It is well.”

²⁴Then she saddled a donkey and said to her young man, “Drive and go; do not hold back the pace of the ride for me unless I tell you.”

²⁵So she went and came to the man of God to ^aMount Carmel.

Now it happened that when the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to Gehazi his young man, “Behold, ¹there is the Shunammite.

²⁶“Please 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 ¹answered, “It is well.”

²⁷Then she came to the man of God ^ato the hill and took hold of his feet. And Gehazi came near to push her away; but the man of God said, “Let her alone, for her soul is bitter within her; and Yahweh has hidden it from me and has not told me.”

²⁸Then she said, “Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say, ‘^aDo not deceive me’?”

²⁹Then he said to Gehazi, “^aGird up your loins and ^btake my staff in your hand, and go; if you meet anyone, do not ^1cgreet him, and if anyone ²greets you, do not answer him; and ^dlay my staff on the boy’s face.”

³⁰But the mother of the boy said, “^aAs Yahweh lives and as your soul lives, I will not forsake you.” And he arose and followed her.

³¹Now Gehazi passed on before them and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or ¹response. So he returned to meet him and told him, saying, “The boy ^ahas not awakened.”

³²Then Elisha came into the house, and behold, the boy was dead and laid on his bed.

³³So he entered and ^ashut the door behind them both and prayed to Yahweh.

³⁴And ^ahe went up and lay on the child and put his mouth on his mouth and his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands, and he stretched himself on him; and the flesh of the child became warm.

³⁵Then he returned and walked in the house once back and forth, and went up and ^astretched himself on him; and the boy sneezed seven times and the boy opened his eyes.

³⁶Then he called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her. Then she came in to him, and he said, “Take up your son.”

³⁷Then she came in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground, and ^ashe took up her son and went out.

The Death in the Stew

³⁸Now Elisha returned to ^aGilgal, and there was ^ba famine in the land. ¹As ^cthe sons of the prophets ^dwere sitting before him, he said to his young man, “^ePut on the large pot and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”

³⁹Then one went out into the field to gather herbs and found a wild vine and gathered from it wild gourds filling his cloak and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, for they did not know what they were.

⁴⁰So they poured it out for the men to eat. And it happened that as they were eating of the stew, they cried out and said, “O man of God, there is ^adeath in the pot.” And they were unable to eat.

⁴¹But he said, “Now bring flour.” ^aHe threw it into the pot and said, “Pour it out for the people that they may eat.” Then there was no harm in the pot.

⁴²Now a man came from Baal-shalishah, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And he said, “^aGive them to the people that they may eat.”

⁴³And his attendant said, “What, ^awill I give this before one hundred men?” But he said, “Give them to the people that they may eat, for thus says Yahweh, ‘They shall eat and have some left over.’”

⁴⁴So he gave it before them, and they ate and ^ahad some left over, according to the word of Yahweh.

CHAPTER 5

Naaman Cleaned from Leprosy

¹Now ^aNaaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man ¹with his master, and ²highly respected, because by him Yahweh had given salvation to Aram. The man was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

²Now the Arameans had gone out ^ain marauding bands and had taken captive a little girl from the land of Israel; and she ¹waited on Naaman’s wife.

³And she said to her mistress, “I wish that my master were before the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his leprosy.”

⁴Then ¹Naaman went in and told his master, saying, “Thus and thus spoke the girl who is from the land of Israel.”

⁵Then the king of Aram said, “Go ¹now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he went and ^atook in his hand ²ten talents of silver and ³six thousand shekels of gold and ten ^bchanges of clothes.

⁶And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying,

“So now as this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

⁷Now it happened that when the king of Israel read the letter, ^ahe tore his clothes and said, “^bAm I God, to put to death and to make alive, that this man is sending word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? But ^cknow now, and see how he is seeking ¹a quarrel against me.”

⁸Now it happened when Elisha ^athe man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent word to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Now let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

⁹So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha.

¹⁰And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “^aGo and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean.”

¹¹But Naaman was furious and went away and said, “Behold, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of Yahweh his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.’

¹²“Are not ¹Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and ^awent away in wrath.

^13aThen his servants approached and spoke to him and said, “^bMy father, had the prophet spoken with you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”

¹⁴So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and ^ahis flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy and ^bhe was clean.

Gehazi’s Leprosy

¹⁵Then he returned to the man of God ¹with all his camp, and came and stood before him, and said, “Behold now, ^aI know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel; so now please ^btake a blessing from your servant.”

¹⁶But he said, “^aAs Yahweh lives, before whom I stand, ^bI will take nothing.” And he urged him to take it, but he refused.

¹⁷So Naaman said, “If not, please let your servant at least be given two mules’ load of ^aearth; for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering nor will he sacrifice to other gods, but to Yahweh.

¹⁸“In this matter may Yahweh pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and ^ahe…