2 Kings 4:8-17

International Children’s Bible

The Shunammite Woman

⁸ One day Elisha went to Shunem. An important woman lived there. She begged Elisha to stay and eat. So every time Elisha passed by, he stopped there to eat. ⁹ The woman said to her husband, “I know that Elisha is a holy man of God. He passes by our house all the time. ¹⁰ Let’s make a small room on the roof.^[a] Let’s put a bed in the room for Elisha. And we can put a table, a chair and a lampstand there. Then when he comes by, he can stay there.”

¹¹ One day Elisha came to the woman’s house. He went to his room and rested. ¹² He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.”

When the servant called her, she stood in front of him. ¹³ Elisha told his servant, “Now say to her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. What can I do for you? Do you want me to speak to the king or the commander of the army for you?’”

The woman answered, “I live among my own people.”

¹⁴ Elisha said, “But what can we do for her?”

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

¹⁵ Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶ Then Elisha said, “About this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms.”

The woman said, “No, master, man of God. Don’t lie to me!”

¹⁷ But the woman became pregnant. And she gave birth to a son at that time the next year as Elisha had told her.