1 Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the
prophets to Elisha, saying, Your servant my husband is dead; and you know
that your servant did fear Yahweh: and the creditor is come to take to him my
two children to be bondservants. 2 Elisha said to her, What shall I do for
you? tell me; what have you in the house? She said, Your handmaid has nothing
in the house, except a pot of oil. 3 Then he said, Go, borrow you vessels
abroad of all your neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. 4 You
shall go in, and shut the door on you and on your sons, and pour out into all
those vessels; and you shall set aside that which is full. 5 So she went
from him, and shut the door on her and on her sons; they brought the
vessels to her, and she poured out. 6 It happened, when the vessels
were full, that she said to her son, Bring me yet a vessel. He said to her,
There isn’t another vessel. The oil stayed. 7 Then she came and told the
man of God. He said, Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt, and live you and
your sons of the rest. 8 It fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem,
where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. So it was,
that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread. 9 She said
to her husband, See now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, that
passes by us continually. 10 Let us make, Please, a little chamber on the
wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a seat, and a lamp
stand: and it shall be, when he comes to us, that he shall turn in there.
11 It fell on a day, that he came there, and he turned into the chamber
and lay there. 12 He said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite.
When he had called her, she stood before him. 13 He said to him, Say now
to her, Behold, you have been careful for us with all this care; what is to
be done for you? would you be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of
the host? She answered, I dwell among my own people. 14 He said, What then
is to be done for her? Gehazi answered, Most assuredly she has no son, and
her husband is old. 15 He said, Call her. When he had called her, she
stood in the door. 16 He said, At this season, when the time comes round,
you shall embrace a son. She said, No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to
your handmaid. 17 The woman conceived, and bore a son at that season, when
the time came round, as Elisha had said to her. 18 When the child was
grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers.
19 He said to his father, My head, my head. 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 knees until noon, and then died. 21 She went up and
laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door on him, and
went out. 22 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
come again. 23 He said, Why will you go to him today? it is neither new
moon nor Sabbath. She said, It shall be well. 24 Then she saddled a
donkey, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; don’t slacken me the
riding, except I bid you. 25 So she went, and came to the man of God to
Mount Carmel. It happened, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said
to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is the Shunammite: 26 please run now
to meet her, and ask her, Is it well with you? is it well with your husband?
is it well with the child? She answered, It is well. 27 When she came to
the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to
thrust her away; but the man of God said, Let her alone: for her soul is
vexed within her; and Yahweh has hid it from me, and has not told me.
28 Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? Didn’t I say, Do not
deceive me? 29 Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up your loins, and take my
staff in your hand, and go your way: if you meet any man, Don’t greet him;
and if anyone greets you, don’t answer him again: and lay my staff on the
face of the child. 30 The mother of the child said, As Yahweh lives, and
as your soul lives, I will not leave you. He arose, and followed her.
31 Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff on the face of the
child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Therefore he returned to
meet him, and told him, saying, The child has not awakened. 32 When Elisha
was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid on his bed.
33 He went in therefore, and shut the door on them both, and prayed to
Yahweh. 34 He 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 grew warm. 35 Then he returned,
and walked in the house once back and forth; and went up, and stretched
himself on him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his
eyes. 36 He called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called
her. When she was come 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 she took
up her son, and went out. 38 Elisha came again to Gilgal. There was a
dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and
he said to his servant, Set on the great pot, and boil stew for the sons of
the prophets. 39 One went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a
wild vine, and gathered of it wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred
them into the pot of stew; for they didn’t recognize them. 40 So they
poured out for the men to eat. It happened, as they were eating of the stew,
that they cried out, and said, man of God, there is death in the pot. They
could not eat of it. 41 But he said, Then bring meal. He cast it into the
pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. There was no
harm in the pot. 42 There came a man from Baal Shalishah, and brought the
man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears
of grain in his sack. He said, Give to the people, that they may eat.
43 His servant said, What, should I set this before a hundred men? But he
said, Give the people, that they may eat; for thus says Yahweh, They shall
eat, and shall leave of it. 44 So he set it before them, and they ate, and
left of it, according to the word of Yahweh.
World English Bible - Public Domain |
|
|