2 Kings 4:2-12

2 Elisha asked her, "What should I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" She answered, "Your servant has nothing in the house but a flask of oil."
3 Then he said, "Go, and borrow containers from all your neighbors, empty containers; and don't borrow just a few!
4 Then go in; shut the door, with you and your sons inside; and pour oil into all those containers; and as they are filled, put them aside."
5 So she left him and shut the door on herself and her sons. They brought her the containers while she poured.
6 When the containers were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another container"; but he answered, "There isn't another container." Then the oil stopped flowing.
7 She came and told the man of God; and he said, "Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt; then you and your sons can live on what's left."
8 One day Elisha visited Shunem, and a well-to-do woman living there pressed him to stay and eat a meal. After this, whenever he came through, he stopped there for a meal.
9 She said to her husband, "I can see that this is a holy man of God who keeps stopping at our place.
10 Please, let's build him a little room on the roof. We'll put a bed and a table in it for him, and a stool and a candlestick. Then, whenever he comes to visit us, he can stay there."
11 One day Elisha came to visit there, and he went into the upper room to lie down.
12 He said to Geichazi his servant, "Call this Shunamit." He called her; and when she arrived,

2 Kings 4:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 4

This chapter treats of the miracles of Elisha, of his multiplying a poor widow's pot of oil for the payment of her husband's debts, 2Ki 4:1-7 of obtaining a son for a Shunamitish woman, who had been very hospitable to him, 2Ki 4:8-17, of his raising up her son to life when dead, 2Ki 4:18-37, of his curing the deadly pottage made of wild gourds, 2Ki 4:38-41, and of his feeding one hundred men with twenty barley loaves, 2Ki 4:42-44.

Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.