8
One day Elisha went to Shunem, where a rich woman lived. She invited him to a meal, and from then on every time he went to Shunem he would have his meals at her house.
9
She said to her husband, "I am sure that this man who comes here so often is a holy man.
10
Let's build a small room on the roof, put a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp in it, and he can stay there whenever he visits us."
11
One day Elisha returned to Shunem and went up to his room to rest.
12
He told his servant Gehazi to go and call the woman. When she came,
13
he said to Gehazi, "Ask her what I can do for her in return for all the trouble she has had in providing for our needs. Maybe she would like me to go to the king or the army commander and put in a good word for her." "I have all I need here among my own people," she answered.
14
Elisha asked Gehazi, "What can I do for her then?" He answered, "Well, she has no son, and her husband is an old man."
15
"Tell her to come here," Elisha ordered. She came and stood in the doorway,
16
and Elisha said to her, "By this time next year you will be holding a son in your arms."
1 "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Please, sir, don't lie to me. You are a man of God!"
17
But, as Elisha had said, at about that time the following year she gave birth to a son.
18
Some years later, at harvest time, the boy went out one morning to join his father, who was in the field with the harvest workers.