2 Kings 4:1-17

Christian Standard Bible

The Widow’s Oil Multiplied

4 One of the wives of the sons of the prophets^(A) cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, has died. You know that your servant feared the Lord.^(B) Now the creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves.”^(C)

² Elisha asked her, “What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?”

She said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.”^(D)

³ Then he said, “Go out and borrow empty containers from all your neighbors. Do not get just a few.^{(E) 4} Then go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour oil into all these containers. Set the full ones to one side.” ⁵ So she left.

After she had shut the door behind her and her sons, they kept bringing her containers, and she kept pouring.^{(F) 6} When they were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another container.”

But he replied, “There aren’t any more.” Then the oil stopped.

⁷ She went and told the man of God,^(G) and he said, “Go sell the oil and pay your debt; you and your sons can live on the rest.”^(H)

The Shunammite Woman’s Hospitality

⁸ One day Elisha went to Shunem.^(I) A prominent woman who lived there persuaded him to eat some food. So whenever he passed by, he stopped there to eat.^{(J) 9} Then she said to her husband, “I know that the one who often passes by here is a holy man of God, ¹⁰ so let’s make a small, walled-in upper room and put a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp there for him. Whenever he comes, he can stay there.”^(K)

The Shunammite Woman’s Son

¹¹ One day he came there and stopped at the upstairs room to lie down. ¹² He ordered his attendant Gehazi,^(L) “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her and she stood before him.

¹³ Then he said to Gehazi, “Say to her, ‘Look, you’ve gone to all this trouble for us. What can we do for you?^(M) Can we speak on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?’”

She answered, “I am living among my own people.”

¹⁴ So he asked, “Then what should be done for her?”

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

¹⁵ “Call her,” Elisha said. So Gehazi called her, and she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶ Elisha said, “At this time next year you will have a son in your arms.”^(N)

Then she said, “No, my lord. Man of God, do not lie to your servant.”^(O)

¹⁷ The woman conceived and gave birth to a son at the same time the following year, as Elisha had promised her.