2 Kings 3:1–4:44
1 Now Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel at Samaria ain the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.
2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, though not like his father and his mother; for ahe put away the sacred pillar of Baal bwhich his father had made.
3 Nevertheless, ahe clung to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, bwhich he made Israel sin; he did not depart from them.
4 Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and aused to pay the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams.
5 But awhen Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.
6 And King Jehoram went out of Samaria 1at that time and mustered all Israel.
7 Then he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?” And he said, “I will go up; aI am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”
8 He said, “Which way shall we go up?” And he 1answered, “The way of the wilderness of Edom.”
9 So athe king of Israel went with bthe king of Judah and cthe king of Edom; and they made a circuit of seven days’ journey, and there was no water for the army or for the cattle that followed them.
10 Then the king of Israel said, “Alas! For the Lord has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.”
11 But Jehoshaphat said, “aIs there not a prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of the Lord by him?” And one of the king of Israel’s servants answered and said, “bElisha the son of Shaphat is here, cwho used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.”
12 Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
13 Now Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What do I have to do with you? aGo to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.” And the king of Israel said to him, “No, for the Lord has called these three kings together to give them into the hand of Moab.”
14 Elisha said, “aAs the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look at you nor see you.
15 “But now abring me a minstrel.” And it came about, when the minstrel played, that bthe hand of the Lord came upon him.
16 He said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Make this valley full of trenches.’
17 “For thus says the Lord, ‘You shall not see wind nor shall you see rain; yet that valley ashall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, both you and your cattle and your beasts.
18 ‘This is but a aslight thing in the sight of the Lord; He will also give the Moabites into your hand.
19 ‘aThen you shall strike every fortified city and every choice city, and fell every good tree and stop all springs of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.’ ”
20 It happened in the morning aabout the time of offering the sacrifice, that behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.
21 Now all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them. And all who were able to 1put on armor and older were summoned and stood on the border.
22 They rose early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood.
23 Then they said, “This is blood; the kings have surely fought together, and they have slain one another. Now therefore, Moab, to the spoil!”
24 But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites arose and struck the Moabites, so that they fled before them; and they went forward 1into the land, 2slaughtering the Moabites.
25 aThus they destroyed the cities; and each one threw a stone on every piece of good land and filled it. So they stopped all the springs of water and felled all the good trees, until in bKir-hareseth only they left its stones; however, the slingers went about it and struck it.
26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took with him 700 men who drew swords, to break through to the king of Edom; but they could not.
27 Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place, and aoffered him as a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their own land.
1 Now 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 the Lord; and bthe creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.”
2 Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house except aa jar of oil.”
3 Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels at large for yourself 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.”
5 So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons; they were bringing the vessels to her and she poured.
6 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.
7 Then 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.”
8 Now there came a day when Elisha passed over to aShunem, where there was a 1prominent woman, and she persuaded him to eat 2food. And so it was, as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat 2food.
9 She said to her husband, “Behold now, I perceive 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 shall be, when he comes to us, that he can turn in there.”
11 1One day he came there and turned in to the upper chamber and 2rested.
12 Then he said to aGehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” And when he had called her, she stood before him.
13 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 captain of the army?’ ” And she 3answered, “I live among my own people.”
14 So he said, “What then is to be done for her?” And Gehazi 1answered, “Truly she has no son and her husband is old.”
15 He said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the doorway.
16 Then 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 maidservant.”
17 The woman conceived and bore a son at that season 1the next year, as Elisha had said to her.
18 When the child was grown, the day came that he went out to his father to the reapers.
19 He said to his father, “My head, my head.” And he said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.”
20 When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her 1lap until noon, and then died.
21 She went up and alaid him on the bed of bthe man of God, and shut the door behind him and went out.
22 Then she called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and return.”
23 He said, “Why will you go to him today? It is neither anew moon nor sabbath.” And she said, “It will be well.”
24 Then she saddled a donkey and said to her servant, “Drive and go forward; do not slow down 1the pace for me unless I tell you.”
25 So she went and came to the man of God to aMount Carmel.
When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, “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.”
27 When she came to the man of God ato the hill, she caught 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 1troubled within her; and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.”
28 Then she said, “Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say, ‘aDo not deceive me’?”
29 Then he said to Gehazi, “aGird up your loins and btake my staff in your hand, and go your way; if you meet any man, do not csalute him, and if anyone salutes you, do not answer him; and dlay my staff on the lad’s face.”
30 The mother of the lad said, “aAs the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” And he arose and followed her.
31 Then Gehazi passed on before them and laid the staff on the lad’s face, but there was no sound or 1response. So he returned to meet him and told 2him, “The lad ahas not awakened.”
32 When Elisha came into the house, behold the lad was dead and laid on his bed.
33 So he entered and ashut the door behind them both and prayed to the Lord.
34 And 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.
35 Then he returned and walked in the house once back and forth, and went up and astretched himself on him; and the lad sneezed seven times and the lad opened his eyes.
36 He called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, “Take up your son.”
37 Then she went in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground, and ashe took up her son and went out.
38 When Elisha returned to aGilgal, there was ba famine in the land. 1As cthe sons of the prophets dwere sitting before him, he said to his servant, “ePut on the large pot and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”
39 Then one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, for they did not know