2 Kings 4:3

3 Then he said to her, "Go, ask for yourself [some] containers from the streets, from all your neighbors. {You must collect as many empty containers as you can}!

2 Kings 4:3 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 4:3

Then he said, go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy
neighbours
For he perceived that she had none:

even empty vessels;
which they might more readily lend her:

borrow not a few;
but as many as she could get; the prophet, under a divine impulse, was directed to say this to her, foreseeing, by a spirit of prophecy, that a large quantity of oil would be given her.

2 Kings 4:3 In-Context

1 A certain woman from the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead. Now you know that your servant was a fearer of Yahweh, but the creditor came to take two of my children for himself as slaves.

2 Elisha asked her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" Then she said, "Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of olive oil."

3 Then he said to her, "Go, ask for yourself [some] containers from the streets, from all your neighbors. {You must collect as many empty containers as you can}!

4 You must also go and shut the door behind you and your children, and you must pour out [oil] into all of these containers and set the filled [ones] aside."

5 So she went from him, and she shut the door behind her and her children. They [were] bringing [containers] to her, and she [kept] pouring.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "You must not collect only a few empty containers"