2 Kings 4:1-10

Elisha Helps a Widow and Her Sons

4:1 Now a wife of one of the prophets ¹  appealed ²  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.”

Elisha Gives Life to a Boy

4:8 One day Elisha traveled to Shunem, where a prominent ⁹  woman lived. She insisted that he stop for a meal. ¹⁰  So whenever he was passing through, he would stop in there for a meal. ¹¹  4:9 She said to her husband, “Look, I’m sure ¹²  that the man who regularly passes through here is a very special prophet. ¹³  4:10 Let’s make a small private upper room ¹⁴  and furnish it with ¹⁵  a bed, table, chair, and lamp. When he visits us, he can stay there.”

[4:1]  ¹ tn Heb “a wife from among the wives of the sons of the prophets.”

[4:1]  ² tn Or “cried out.”

[4:1]  ³ tn Heb “your servant feared the Lord.” “Fear” refers here to obedience and allegiance, the products of healthy respect for the Lord’s authority.

[4:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “Go, ask for containers from outside, from all your neighbors, empty containers.”

[4:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “Do not borrow just a few.”

[4:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “all these vessels.”

[4:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “to her son.”

[4:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “man of God” (also in vv. 16, 22, 25, 27 [twice]).

[4:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “great,” perhaps “wealthy.”

[4:8]  ¹⁰ tn Or “she urged him to eat some food.”

[4:8]  ¹¹ tn Or “he would turn aside there to eat some food.”

[4:9]  ¹² tn Heb “I know.”

[4:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “holy man of God.”

[4:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a small upper room of a wall”; according to HALOT 832 s.v. עֲלִיָּה, this refers to “a fully walled upper room.”

[4:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and let’s put there for him.”