2 Kings 4:1-7

The Widow's Oil

1 Now a certain woman of the wives of ¹the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD; and ²the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves."

2 Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" And she said, "Your maidservant has nothing * in the house except * ³a jar of oil."

3 Then he said, "Go, borrow vessels at large for yourself from all your neighbors, even empty vessels; do not get a few.

4 "And you shall go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour out into all these vessels, and you shall set aside what is full."

5 So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons; they were bringing the vessels to her and she poured.

6 When ⁴the vessels were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another vessel." And he said to her, "There is not one vessel more." And the oil stopped.

7 Then she came and told ⁵the man of God. And he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons can live on the rest."

2 Kings 4:1-7 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.

Cross References

• 1. 2 Kings 2:3
• 2. Lev 25:39-41, 48; 1 Samuel 22:2; Nehemiah 5:2-5
• 3. 1 Kings 17:12
• 4. Matthew 14:20
• 5. 1 Kings 12:22

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "Elisha, saying"