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¹ NOW a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, saying, Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that your servant did fear the LORD; and the creditor has come to take my two sons to be his bondmen.² And Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me, what have you in the house? And she said, Your handmaid has nothing in the house except a pot of oil.³ Then he said to her, Go, borrow for yourself vessels from the houses of all your neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.⁴ And then go in, and shut the door upon you and upon your sons, and pour out into all these vessels; and the vessel which is full bring up to me.⁵ So she went from him, and entered her house and shut the door upon herself and upon her sons who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out.⁶ And when the vessels were full, she said to her son, Bring me more vessels. But her son said to her, There are no more vessels. And the oil stopped.⁷ Then she came and told the prophet of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt, and live, you and your sons, on what is left over.

⁸ And it came to pass on the morrow, Elisha went and came to Shiloh, where was a wealthy woman; and she constrained him to eat food. So that whenever he passed by, he turned in there to eat food.⁹ And she said to her husband, Behold now, I perceive that the prophet of God is a holy man who passes by us continually.¹⁰ Let us make for him a little upper room, and let us set for him there a bed and a table and a chair and a candlestick, so that when he comes to us, he shall turn in there.¹¹ And it happened on a certain day, he came there, and he turned in to the upper room and lay there.¹² And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shilomite woman. And when he had called her, she stood before him.¹³ And he said to her, Behold, you have shown us all this respect; what is to be done for you? Is there anything to be spoken on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army? And she answered, I dwell among my own people quite well.¹⁴ Then he said, What shall I do for her? And Gehazi said to him, Verily she has no son and her husband is old.¹⁵ And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door.¹⁶ And he said to her, About this season, you will be with child, and shall embrace a son. And she said, No, my lord, O prophet of God, do not lie to your handmaid.¹⁷ And the woman conceived and bore a son; at the season that Elisha had said to her, she was with child.

¹⁸ Now when the child had grown, he went out on a certain day to his father who was with the reapers.¹⁹ And he said to his father, Oh, my head, my head! And his father said to a servant, Take him up and carry him to his mother.²⁰ And when he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon and then died.²¹ And she went up and laid him on the bed of the prophet of God, and shut the door upon him and went out.²² Then she called to her husband and said, Send me one of the servants and one of the asses, that I may go hastily to the prophet of God.²³ And he said to her, Why will you go to him today? It is neither new moon nor sabbath. But the Shilomite gave orders;²⁴ And they saddled an ass for her, and she said to the servant, Drive fast; do not stop to dismount me unless I tell you.²⁵ So she went to the prophet of God at mount Carmel. And when the prophet of God saw her afar off, he said to Gehazi his disciple, Behold, there is the Shilomite:²⁶ Run now to meet her, and say to her, Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well.²⁷ And when she came to the prophet of God to the mountain, she caught hold of his feet; but Gehazi came near to remove her. And the prophet of God said to him, Let her alone; for her soul is in bitter anguish; and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.²⁸ Then she said, Did I ask a son of my lord? Did I not say to you, Do not ask a son for me?²⁹ Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up your loins and take my staff in your hand and go. If you meet any man, do not salute him; and if any man salutes you, do not answer him; and lay my staff upon the face of the child.³⁰ And the mother of the child said, As the LORD lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. And he arose and followed her.³¹ And Gehazi went on before them and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice nor hearing. Therefore he returned to meet Elisha, and told him, saying, The child is not awake.³² And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead and lying upon his bed.³³ He went in therefore and shut the door upon the two of them, and prayed unto the LORD.³⁴ And he went up and lay upon the child and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands; and he stretched himself upon him, and the flesh of the child became warm.³⁵ Then he returned, and walked to and fro in the house; and went up and stretched himself upon him; and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.³⁶ And Elisha called Gehazi and said to him, Call this Shilomite. So he called her. And when she was come to him, he said to her, Take up your son.³⁷ Then she went in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground and took up her son and went Out.

³⁸ And Elisha returned to Gilgal; and there was a famine in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his disciple, Set on the great pot, and cook pottage for the sons of the prophets.³⁹ And one of them went out into the field to gather herbs and found a wild vine in the field and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and put them into the pot of pottage; for he did not know what they were.⁴⁰ So he poured out for the men to eat. And as they were eating of the pottage, they cried out and said, O prophet of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat of it.⁴¹ But he said, Take meal and cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot.⁴² And there came a certain man from the city of giants, and brought the prophet of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley and new wheat rubbed from the ears in a cloth. And he said, Give to the people, that they may eat.⁴³ And his servant said, What, should I set this before a hundred men? And Elisha said to him again, Give them to the people, that they may eat; for thus says the LORD, They shall eat and shall leave some.⁴⁴ So he set it before them, and they did eat and left some, according to the word of the LORD.