2 Kings 4:1-7

Elisha Helps a Widow and Her Sons

4:1 Now a wife of one of the prophets¹ appealed² to Elisha for help, saying, “Your servant, my husband is dead. You know that your servant was a loyal follower of the Lord.³ Now the creditor is coming to take away my two boys to be his servants.” 4:2 Elisha said to her, “What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a small jar of olive oil.” 4:3 He said, “Go and ask all your neighbors for empty containers.⁴ Get as many as you can.⁵ 4:4 Go and close the door behind you and your sons. Pour the olive oil into all the containers;⁶ set aside each one when you have filled it.” 4:5 So she left him and closed the door behind her and her sons. As they were bringing the containers to her, she was pouring the olive oil. 4:6 When the containers were full, she said to one of her sons,⁷ “Bring me another container.” But he answered her, “There are no more.” Then the olive oil stopped flowing. 4:7 She went and told the prophet.⁸ He said, “Go, sell the olive oil. Repay your creditor, and then you and your sons can live off the rest of the profit.”

2 Kings 4:33-37

4:33 He went in by himself and closed the door.⁹ Then he prayed to the Lord. 4:34 He got up on the bed and spread his body out over¹⁰ the boy; he put his mouth on the boy’s¹¹ mouth, his eyes over the boy’s eyes, and the palms of his hands against the boy’s palms. He bent down over him, and the boy’s skin¹² grew warm. 4:35 Elisha¹³ went back and walked around in the house.¹⁴ Then he got up on the bed again¹⁵ and bent down over him. The child sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. 4:36 Elisha¹⁶ called to Gehazi and said, “Get the Shunammite woman.” So he did so¹⁷ and she came to him. He said to her, “Take your son.” 4:37 She came in, fell at his feet, and bowed down. Then she picked up her son and left.

2 Kings 4:41

4:41 He said, “Get some flour.” Then he threw it into the pot and said, “Now pour some out for the men so they may eat.”¹⁸ There was no longer anything harmful in the pot.

¹tn Heb “a wife from among the wives of the sons of the prophets.”

²tn Or “cried out.”

³tn Heb “your servant feared the Lord.” “Fear” refers here to obedience and allegiance, the products of healthy respect for the Lord’s authority.

⁴tn Heb “Go, ask for containers from outside, from all your neighbors, empty containers.”

⁵tn Heb “Do not borrow just a few.”

⁶tn Heb “all these vessels.”

⁷tn Heb “to her son.”

⁸tn Heb “man of God” (also in vv. 16, 22, 25, 27 [twice]).

⁹tn Heb “and closed the door behind the two of them.”

¹⁰tn Heb “he went up and lay down over.”

¹¹tn Heb “his” (also in the next two clauses).

¹²tn Or perhaps, “body”; Heb “flesh.”

¹³tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁴tn Heb “and he returned and went into the house, once here and once there.”

¹⁵tn Heb “and he went up.”

¹⁶tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁷tn Heb “and he called for her.”

¹⁸tn Or “and let them eat.”