2 Kings 4:11-17

The Shunammite Woman's Son

11 One day he came there and stopped and went to the room upstairs to lie down.
12 He ordered his attendant Gehazi, "Call this Shunammite woman." So he called her and she stood before him.
13 Then he said to Gehazi, "Say to her, 'Look, you've gone to all this trouble for us. What can [we] do for you? Can [we] speak on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?' " She answered, "I am living among my own people."
14 So he asked, "Then what should be done for her?" Gehazi answered, "Well, she has no son, and her husband is old."
15 "Call her," Elisha said. So Gehazi called her, and she stood in the doorway.
16 Elisha said, "At this time next year you will have a son in your arms."[a] Then she said, "No, my lord. Man of God, do not deceive your servant."
17 The woman conceived and gave birth to a son at the same time the following year, as Elisha had promised her.

2 Kings 4:11-17 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.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Gn 18:9-15; Jdg 13:2-3; Lk 1:7-13
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