2 Kings 4–6

¹And a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets hath cried unto Elisha, saying, ‘Thy servant, my husband, is dead, and thou hast known that thy servant was fearing Jehovah, and the lender hath come to take my two children to him for servants.’ ²And Elisha saith unto her, ‘What do I do for thee? declare to me, what hast thou in the house?’ and she saith, ‘Thy maid-servant hath nothing in the house except a pot of oil.’ ³And he saith, ‘Go, ask for thee vessels from without, from all thy neighbours—empty vessels—let them not be few; ⁴and thou hast entered, and shut the door upon thee, and upon thy sons, and hast poured out into all these vessels, and the full ones thou dost remove.’ ⁵And she goeth from him, and shutteth the door upon her, and upon her sons; they are bringing nigh unto her, and she is pouring out, ⁶and it cometh to pass, at the filling of the vessels, that she saith unto her son, ‘Bring nigh unto me a vessel more,’ and he saith unto her, ‘There is not a vessel more;’ and the oil stayeth. ⁷And she cometh and declareth to the man of God, and he saith, ‘Go, sell the oil, and repay thy loan; and thou and thy sons do live of the rest.’

⁸And the day cometh that Elisha passeth over unto Shunem, and there is a great woman, and she layeth hold on him to eat bread, and it cometh to pass, at the time of his passing over, he turneth aside thither to eat bread, ⁹and she saith unto her husband, ‘Lo, I pray thee, I have known that a holy man of God he is, passing over by us continually; ¹⁰let us make, I pray thee, a little upper chamber of the wall, and we set for him there a bed, and a table, and a high seat, and a candlestick; and it hath been, in his coming in unto us, he doth turn aside thither.’ ¹¹And the day cometh, that he cometh in thither, and turneth aside unto the upper chamber, and lieth there, ¹²and he saith unto Gehazi his young man, ‘Call for this Shunammite;’ and he calleth for her, and she standeth before him. ¹³And he saith to him, ‘Say, I pray thee, unto her, Lo, thou hast troubled thyself concerning us with all this trouble; what—to do for thee? is it to speak for thee unto the king, or unto the head of the host?’ and she saith, ‘In the midst of my people I am dwelling.’ ¹⁴And he saith, ‘And what—to do for her?’ and Gehazi saith, ‘Verily she hath no son, and her husband is aged.’ ¹⁵And he saith, ‘Call for her;’ and he calleth for her, and she standeth at the opening, ¹⁶and he saith, ‘At this season, according to the time of life, thou art embracing a son;’ and she saith, ‘Nay, my lord, O man of God, do not lie unto thy maid-servant.’ ¹⁷And the woman conceiveth and beareth a son, at this season, according to the time of life, that Elisha spake of unto her.

¹⁸And the lad groweth, and the day cometh that he goeth out unto his father, unto the reapers, ¹⁹and he saith unto his father, ‘My head, my head;’ and he saith unto the young man, ‘Bear him unto his mother;’ ²⁰and he beareth him, and bringeth him in unto his mother, and he sitteth on her knees till the noon, and dieth. ²¹And she goeth up, and layeth him on the bed of the man of God, and shutteth the door upon him, and goeth out, ²²and calleth unto her husband, and saith, ‘Send, I pray thee, to me, one of the young men, and one of the asses, and I run unto the man of God, and return.’ ²³And he saith, ‘Wherefore art thou going unto him to-day?—neither new moon nor sabbath!’ and she saith, ‘Peace to thee!’ ²⁴And she saddleth the ass, and saith unto her young man, ‘Lead, and go, do not restrain riding for me, except I have said so to thee.’ ²⁵And she goeth, and cometh in unto the man of God, unto the hill of Carmel, and it cometh to pass, at the man of God’s seeing her from over-against, that he saith unto Gehazi his young man, ‘Lo, this Shunammite; ²⁶now, run, I pray thee, to meet her, and say to her, Is there peace to thee? is there peace to thy husband? is there peace to the lad?’ and she saith, ‘Peace.’ ²⁷And she cometh in unto the man of God, unto the hill, and layeth hold on his feet, and Gehazi cometh nigh to thrust her away, and the man of God saith, ‘Let her alone, for her soul is bitter to her, and Jehovah hath hidden it from me, and hath not declared it to me.’ ²⁸And she saith, ‘Did I ask a son from my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me?’ ²⁹And he saith to Gehazi, ‘Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thy hand, and go; when thou dost meet a man, thou dost not salute him; and when a man doth salute thee, thou dost not answer him; and thou hast laid my staff on the face of the youth.’ ³⁰And the mother of the youth saith, ‘Jehovah liveth, and thy soul liveth—if I leave thee;’ and he riseth and goeth after her. ³¹And Gehazi hath passed on before them, and layeth the staff on the face of the youth, and there is no voice, and there is no attention, and he turneth back to meet him, and declareth to him, saying, ‘The youth hath not awaked.’ ³²And Elisha cometh in to the house, and lo, the youth is dead, laid on his bed, ³³and he goeth in and shutteth the door upon them both, and prayeth unto Jehovah. ³⁴And he goeth up, and lieth down on the lad, and putteth his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands, and stretcheth himself upon him, and the flesh of the lad becometh warm; ³⁵and he turneth back and walketh in the house, once hither and once thither, and goeth up and stretcheth himself upon him, and the youth sneezeth till seven times, and the youth openeth his eyes. ³⁶And he calleth unto Gehazi, and saith, ‘Call unto this Shunammite;’ and he calleth her, and she cometh in unto him, and he saith, ‘Lift up thy son.’ ³⁷And she goeth in, and falleth at his feet, and boweth herself to the earth, and lifteth up her son, and goeth out.

³⁸And Elisha hath turned back to Gilgal, and the famine is in the land, and the sons of the prophets are sitting before him, and he saith to his young man, ‘Set on the great pot, and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets.’ ³⁹And one goeth out unto the field to gather herbs, and findeth a vine of the field, and gathereth of it gourds of the field—the fulness of his garment—and cometh in and splitteth them into the pot of pottage, for they knew them not; ⁴⁰and they pour out for the men to eat, and it cometh to pass at their eating of the pottage, that they have cried out, and say, ‘Death is in the pot, O man of God!’ and they have not been able to eat. ⁴¹And he saith, ‘Then bring ye meal;’ and he casteth into the pot, and saith, ‘Pour out for the people, and they eat;’ and there was no evil thing in the pot. ⁴²And a man hath come from Baal-Shalishah, and bringeth in to the man of God bread of first-fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in its husk, and he saith, ‘Give to the people, and they eat.’ ⁴³And his minister saith, ‘What—do I give this before a hundred men?’ and he saith, ‘Give to the people, and they eat, for thus said Jehovah, Eat and leave;’ ⁴⁴and he giveth before them, and they eat and leave, according to the word of Jehovah.

Chapter 5

¹And Naaman, head of the host of the king of Aram, was a great man before his lord, and accepted of face, for by him had Jehovah given salvation to Aram, and the man was mighty in valour—leprous. ²And the Aramaeans have gone out by troops, and they take captive out of the land of Israel a little damsel, and she is before the wife of Naaman, ³and she saith unto her mistress, ‘O that my lord were before the prophet who is in Samaria; then he doth recover him from his leprosy.’ ⁴And one goeth in and declareth to his lord, saying, ‘Thus and thus she hath spoken, the damsel who is from the land of Israel.’ ⁵And the king of Aram saith, ‘Go thou, enter, and I send a letter unto the king of Israel;’ and he goeth and taketh in his hand ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of garments. ⁶And he bringeth in the letter unto the king of Israel, saying, ‘And now, at the coming in of this letter unto thee, lo, I have sent unto thee Naaman my servant, and thou hast recovered him from his leprosy.’ ⁷And it cometh to pass, at the king of Israel’s reading the letter, that he rendeth his garments, and saith, ‘Am I God, to put to death and to keep alive, that this one is sending unto me to recover a man from his leprosy? for surely know, I pray you, and see, for he is presenting himself to me.’ ⁸And it cometh to pass, at Elisha the man of God’s hearing that the king of Israel hath rent his garments, that he sendeth unto the king, saying, ‘Why hast thou rent thy garments? let him come, I pray thee, unto me, and he doth know that there is a prophet in Israel.’

⁹And Naaman cometh, with his horses and with his chariot, and standeth at the opening of the house for Elisha; ¹⁰and Elisha sendeth unto him a messenger, saying, ‘Go, and thou hast washed seven times in Jordan, and thy flesh doth turn back to thee—and be thou clean. ¹¹And Naaman is wroth, and goeth on, and saith, ‘Lo, I said, Unto me he doth certainly come out, and hath stood and called in the name of Jehovah his God, and waved his hand over the place, and recovered the leper. ¹²Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? do I not wash in them and I have been clean?’ and he turneth and goeth on in fury. ¹³And his servants come nigh, and speak unto him, and say, ‘My father, a great thing had the prophet spoken unto thee—dost thou not do it? and surely, when he hath said unto thee, Wash, and be clean.’ ¹⁴And he goeth down and dippeth in Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh doth turn back as the flesh of a little youth, and is clean.

¹⁵And he turneth back unto the man of God, he and all his camp, and cometh in, and standeth before him, and saith, ‘Lo, I pray thee, I have known that there is not a God in all the earth except in Israel; and now, take, I pray thee, a blessing from thy servant.’ ¹⁶And he saith, ‘Jehovah liveth, before whom I have stood—if I take it;’ and…