2 Kings 4:7-17

7 She came and told the man of God, and he said, "Go sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your children can live on the rest."
8 One day Elisha was passing through Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to have a meal. So whenever he passed that way, he would stop there for a meal.
9 She said to her husband, "Look, I am sure that this man who regularly passes our way is a holy man of God.
10 Let us make a small roof chamber with walls, and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that he can stay there whenever he comes to us."
11 One day when he came there, he went up to the chamber and lay down there.
12 He said to his servant Gehazi, "Call the Shunammite woman." When he had called her, she stood before him.
13 He said to him, "Say to her, Since you have taken all this trouble for us, what may be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?" She answered, "I live among my own people."
14 He said, "What then may be done for her?" Gehazi answered, "Well, she has no son, and her husband is old."
15 He said, "Call her." When he had called her, she stood at the door.
16 He said, "At this season, in due time, you shall embrace a son." She replied, "No, my lord, O man of God; do not deceive your servant."
17 The woman conceived and bore a son at that season, in due time, as Elisha had declared to her.

2 Kings 4:7-17 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.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.