1One day the widow of one of the Lord's prophets said to Elisha, “You know that before my husband died, he was a follower of yours and a worshiper of the Lord. But he owed a man some money, and now that man is on his way to take my two sons as his slaves.”
2“Maybe there's something I can do to help,” Elisha said. “What do you have in your house?”
“Sir, I have nothing but a small bottle of olive oil.”
3Elisha told her, “Ask your neighbors for their empty jars. And after you've borrowed as many as you can,
4go home and shut the door behind you and your sons. Then begin filling the jars with oil and set each one aside as you fill it.”
5The woman left.
Later, when she and her sons were back inside their house, the two sons brought her the jars, and she began filling them.
6At last, she said to one of her sons, “Bring me another jar.”
“We don't have any more,” he answered, and the oil stopped flowing from the small bottle.
7After she told Elisha what had happened, he said, “Sell the oil and use part of the money to pay what you owe the man. You and your sons can live on what is left.”
Elisha Brings a Rich Woman's Son Back to Life8Once, while Elisha was in the town of Shunem, he met a rich woman who invited him to her home for dinner. After that, whenever he was in Shunem, he would have a meal there with her and her husband.
9Some time later the woman said to her husband, “I'm sure the man who comes here so often is a prophet of God.
10Why don't we build him a small room on the flat roof of our house? We can put a bed, a table and chair, and an oil lamp in it. Then whenever he comes, he can stay with us.”
11The next time Elisha was in Shunem, he stopped at their house and went up to his room to rest.
12-13He said to his servant Gehazi, “This woman has been very helpful. Have her come up here to the roof for a moment.” She came, and Elisha told Gehazi to say to her, “You've gone to a lot of trouble for us, and we want to help you. Is there something we can request the king or army commander to do?”
The woman answered, “With my relatives nearby, I have everything I need.”
14“Then what can we do for her?” Elisha asked Gehazi.
Gehazi replied, “I do know that her husband is old, and that she doesn't have a son.”
15“Ask her to come here again,” Elisha told his servant. He called for her, and she came and stood in the doorway of Elisha's room.
16
When Elisha saw her coming, he said, “Gehazi, look! It's the woman from Shunem.
26Run and meet her. And ask her if everything is all right with her and her family.”
“Everything is fine,” she answered Gehazi.
27But as soon as she got to the top of the mountain, she went over and grabbed Elisha by the feet.
Gehazi started toward her to push her away, when Elisha said, “Leave her alone! Don't you see how sad she is? But the Lord hasn't told me why.”
28The woman said, “Sir, I begged you not to get my hopes up, and I didn't even ask you for a son.”
29“Gehazi, get ready and go to her house,” Elisha said. “Take along my walking stick, and when you get there, lay it on the boy's face. Don't stop to talk to anyone, even if they try to talk to you.”
30But the boy's mother said to Elisha, “I swear by the living Lord and by your own life that I won't leave without you.” So Elisha got up and went with them.
31Gehazi ran on ahead and laid Elisha's walking stick on the boy's face, but the boy didn't move or make a sound. Gehazi ran back to Elisha and said, “The boy didn't wake up.”
32Elisha arrived at the woman's house and went straight to his room, where he saw the boy's body on his bed.
33He walked in, shut the door, and prayed to the Lord.
34 brought Elisha some freshly cut grain and 20 loaves of bread made from the first barley that was harvested. Elisha said, “Give it to the people so they can eat.”
43“There's not enough here for 100 people,” his servant said.
“Just give it to them,” Elisha replied. “The Lord has promised there will be more than enough.”
44So the servant served the bread and grain to the people. They ate and still had some left over, just as the Lord had promised.
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