2 Kings 4:11-17

11 One day Elisha came to visit and went to his upper room to lie down.

12 And he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call the Shunammite woman.” And when he had called her, she stood before him,

13 and Elisha said to Gehazi, “Now tell her, ‘Look, you have gone to all this trouble for us. What can we do for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’” “I have a home among my own people,” she replied.

14 So he asked, “Then what should be done for her?” “Well, she has no son,” Gehazi replied, “and her husband is old.”

15 “Call her,” said Elisha. So Gehazi called her, and she stood in the doorway.

16 And Elisha declared, “At this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms.” “No, my lord,” she said. “Do not lie to your maidservant, O man of God.”

17 But the woman did conceive, and at that time the next year she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told 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.