2Kings:4

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* The widow of a member of a group of prophets said to Elisha : »My husband has died ! As you know , he was a man who respected God . A man to whom he owed money came to take away my two sons as slaves in payment for my husband 's debt .« * Elisha said : »Tell me what shall I do for you ? What do you have at home ?« She answered : »Except for a small jar of olive oil , I have nothing .« * »Ask your neighbors for empty jars . Borrow as many as you can ,« Elisha told her . * »You and your sons go into the house and shut the door behind you . Pour oil into the jars . Set each one aside as soon as it is full .« * The woman went into her house with her sons . They closed the door and took the small jar of olive oil , and poured oil into the jars as her sons brought them to her . * When the jars were full she asked if there were any more . »That was the last one ,« one of her sons told her . So the olive oil stopped flowing . * She returned to Elisha , the prophet . He said : »Sell the olive oil and pay all your debts . There will be enough money left over for you and your sons to pay your living expenses .« * Elisha went to Shunem , where a rich woman lived . She invited him to a meal . From that time on every time he went to Shunem he would have his meals at her house . * She said to her husband : »I know that this man who comes here often is a holy man . * »Let us build a small room on the roof , and put a bed , a table , a chair , and a lamp in it . He can stay there when he visits us .« * One day Elisha returned to Shunem and went to his room to rest . * He told his servant Gehazi to call the woman . When she came , * he said to Gehazi : »Ask her what I can do for her in return for all the trouble she has had in providing for our needs . Maybe she would like me to go to the king or the army commander and put in a good word for her .« »I have all I need here among my own people ,« she answered . * Elisha asked Gehazi : »What can I do for her ?« He answered : »She has no son , and her husband is an old man .« * »Tell her to come here ,« Elisha ordered . She came and stood in the doorway . * Elisha said to her : »By this time next year you will hold a son in your arms .« »Please do not lie to me . You are a man of God !« She said . * Just as Elisha said , about that time the following year she gave birth to a son . * Years later at harvest time , the boy went out one morning to join his father , who was in the field with the harvest workers . * Suddenly he cried out to his father : »My head hurts ! My head hurts !« »Carry the boy to his mother ,« the father said to a servant . * The servant carried the boy back to his mother . She held him in her lap until noon . Then the boy died . * She carried him up to Elisha 's room and put him on the bed . She closed the door behind her and left . * She called her husband and said to him : »Send a servant here with a donkey . I need to go to the prophet Elisha . I will be back as soon as I can .« * »Why must you go today ?« Her husband asked . »It is neither a Sabbath nor a New Moon Festival .« She replied : »Never mind .« * She had the donkey saddled , and ordered the servant : »Make the donkey go as fast as it can . Do not slow down unless I tell you .« * She left for Mount Carmel , where Elisha was . Elisha saw her coming while she was still far off . He said to his servant Gehazi : »Look , there comes the woman from Shunem ! * »Hurry to her and find out if everything is all right with her and her family .« She told Gehazi that everything was all right , * but when she came to Elisha , she bowed down before him and took hold of his feet . Gehazi was about to push her away . Elisha said : »Do not bother her . You can see she is deeply distressed . Jehovah has not told me a thing about it .« * The woman said to him : »Did I ask you for a son ? Did I not tell you not to get my hopes up ?« * Elisha told Gehazi :« Hurry ! Take my walking stick . Do not stop to talk to anyone . If anyone speaks to you do not respond . Go straight to the house and hold my stick over the boy .« * The woman said to Elisha :« I swear by my loyalty to the living God Jehovah and to you that I will not leave you ! So the two of them started back together . » * Gehazi went ahead and held Elisha 's stick over the child . There was no sound or any other sign of life . He returned to meet Elisha and said : »The boy did not wake up .« * When Elisha arrived he went alone into the room . He saw the boy lying dead on the bed . * He closed the door and prayed to Jehovah . * Then he lay down on the boy , placing his mouth , eyes , and hands on the boy 's mouth , eyes , and hands . As he lay stretched out over the boy , the boy 's body started to get warm . * Elisha got up and walked around the room . He returned and again stretched himself over the boy . The boy sneezed seven times and then opened his eyes . * Elisha called Gehazi and told him to call the boy 's mother . When she came in , he said to her : »Take your son !« * She fell at Elisha 's feet with her face on the ground . Then she took her son and left . * When there was a famine throughout the land , Elisha returned to Gilgal . He was teaching a group of prophets . He told his servant to put a big pot on the fire and make some stew for them . * One of them went out in the fields to gather herbs . He found a wild vine and picked as many gourds as he could carry . He brought them back and sliced them into the stew , not knowing what they were . * The stew was poured out for the men to eat . They tasted it and exclaimed to Elisha : »It is poisoned !« They would not eat it . * Elisha asked for some meal . He threw it into the pot and said : »Pour out some more stew for them .« Then there was nothing wrong with it . * A man came from Baal Shalishah . He brought Elisha twenty loaves of bread made from the first barley harvested that year and some freshly cut heads of grain . Elisha told his servant to feed the group of prophets with this . * He asked : »How am I to feed a hundred hungry men with this ?« Elisha replied : »Give it to them to eat , because Jehovah says that they will eat and still have some left over .« (Matthew strkjv @14:20 ) * So the servant set the food before them . Just as Jehovah said , they ate and had some left over .

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