The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 The wife of one of the guild prophets complained to Elisha. "Your servant my husband died," she said, "and you know that he feared ADONAI. Now a creditor has come to take my two children as his slaves."
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Now a certain woman, the wife of one of the sons of the prophets, came crying to Elisha and said, Your servant my husband is dead; and to your knowledge he was a worshipper of the Lord; but now, the creditor has come to take my two children as servants in payment of his debt.
2 Elisha asked her, "What should I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" She answered, "Your servant has nothing in the house but a flask of oil."
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Then Elisha said to her, What am I to do for you? say now, what have you in the house? And she said, Your servant has nothing in the house but a pot of oil.
3 Then he said, "Go, and borrow containers from all your neighbors, empty containers; and don't borrow just a few!
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Then he said, Go out to all your neighbours and get vessels, a very great number of them.
4 Then go in; shut the door, with you and your sons inside; and pour oil into all those containers; and as they are filled, put them aside."
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Then go in, and, shutting the door on yourself and your sons, put oil into all these vessels, putting on one side the full ones.
5 So she left him and shut the door on herself and her sons. They brought her the containers while she poured.
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So she went away, and when the door was shut on her and her sons, they took the vessels to her and she put oil into them.
6 When the containers were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another container"; but he answered, "There isn't another container." Then the oil stopped flowing.
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And when all the vessels were full, she said to her son, Get me another vessel. And he said, There are no more. And the flow of oil was stopped.
7 She came and told the man of God; and he said, "Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt; then you and your sons can live on what's left."
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So she came to the man of God and gave him word of what she had done. And he said, Go and get money for the oil and make payment of your debt, and let the rest be for the needs of yourself and your sons.
8 One day Elisha visited Shunem, and a well-to-do woman living there pressed him to stay and eat a meal. After this, whenever he came through, he stopped there for a meal.
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Now there came a day when Elisha went to Shunem, and there was a woman of high position living there, who made him come in and have a meal with her. And after that, every time he went by, he went into her house for a meal.
9 She said to her husband, "I can see that this is a holy man of God who keeps stopping at our place.
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And she said to her husband, Now I see that this is a holy man of God, who comes by day after day.
10 Please, let's build him a little room on the roof. We'll put a bed and a table in it for him, and a stool and a candlestick. Then, whenever he comes to visit us, he can stay there."
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So let us make a little room on the wall; and put a bed there for him, and a table and a seat and a light; so that when he comes to us, he will be able to go in there.
11 One day Elisha came to visit there, and he went into the upper room to lie down.
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Now one day, when he had gone there, he went into the little room and took his rest there.
12 He said to Geichazi his servant, "Call this Shunamit." He called her; and when she arrived,
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And he said to Gehazi, his servant, Send for this Shunammite. So in answer to his voice she came before him.
13 he said to him, "Tell her this: 'You have shown us so much hospitality! What can I do to show my appreciation? Do you want me to say anything to the king for you? or to the commander of the army?" She answered, "I'm happy living as I do, among my own people."
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And he said to him, Now say to her, See, you have taken all this trouble for us; what is to be done for you? will you have any request made for you to the king or the captain of the army? But she said, I am living among my people.
14 He said, "What, then, is to be done for her?" Geichazi answered, "There's one thing - she doesn't have a son; and her husband is old.
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So he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi made answer, Still there is this, she has no son and her husband is old.
15 Elisha said, "Call her." After he called her, she stood in the doorway.
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Then he said, Send for her. And in answer to his voice she took her place at the door.
16 He said, "Next year, when the season comes around, you will be holding a son." "No, my lord," she answered. "Man of God, don't lie to your servant!"
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And Elisha said, At this time in the coming year you will have a son in your arms. And she said, No, my lord, O man of God, do not say what is false to your servant.
17 But the woman conceived and gave birth to a son the following year when the season came around, just as Elisha had said to her.
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Then the woman became with child and gave birth to a son at the time named, in the year after, as Elisha had said to her.
18 When the child was old enough, he went out one day to be with his father, who was with the reapers.
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Now one day, when the child was older, he went out to his father to where the grain was being cut.
19 Suddenly he cried out to his father, "My head! My head hurts!" He said to his servant, "Carry him back to his mother."
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And he said to his father, My head, my head! And the father said to a servant, Take him in to his mother.
20 When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he lay on her lap until noon; and then he died.
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And he took him in to his mother, and she took him on her knees and kept him there till the middle of the day, when his life went from him.
21 She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door on him and went out.
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Then she went up and put him on the bed of the man of God, shutting the door on him, and went out.
22 She called to her husband and said, "Please send me one of the servants with a donkey. I must get to the man of God as fast as I can; I'll come straight back."
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And she said to her husband, Send me one of the servants and one of the asses so that I may go quickly to the man of God and come back again.
23 He asked, "Why are you going to him today? It isn't Rosh-Hodesh and it isn't Shabbat." She said, "It's all right."
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And he said, Why are you going to him today? it is not a new moon or a Sabbath. But she said, It is well.
24 Then she saddled the donkey and ordered her servant, "Drive as fast as you can; don't slow down for me unless I say so."
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Then she made the ass ready and said to her servant, Keep driving on; do not make a stop without orders from me.
25 She set out and came to the man of God on Mount Karmel. When the man of God saw her in the distance, he said to Geichazi his servant, "Look, here comes that Shunamit.
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So she went, and came to Mount Carmel, to the man of God. And when the man of God saw her coming in his direction, he said to Gehazi, his servant, See, there is the Shunammite;
26 Run now to meet her, and ask her, "Is everything all right with you? with your husband? with the child?" She answered, "Everything is all right."
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Go quickly to her, and on meeting her say to her, Are you well? and your husband and the child, are they well? And she said in answer, All is well.
27 But when she reached the man of God on the hill, she grabbed his feet. Geichazi came up to push her away, but the man of God said, "Leave her alone. She is in great distress, but ADONAI has hidden from me what it is, he hasn't told me."
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And when she came to where the man of God was on the hill, she put her hands round his feet; and Gehazi came near with the purpose of pushing her away; but the man of God said, Let her be, for her soul is bitter in her; and the Lord has kept it secret from me, and has not given me word of it.
28 Then she said, "Did I ask my lord for a son? Didn't I say not to deceive me?"
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Then she said, Did I make a request to my lord for a son? did I not say, Do not give me false words?
29 Then Elisha said to Geichazi, "Get dressed for action, take my staff in your hand, and be on your way. If you meet anyone, don't greet him; if anyone greets you, don't answer; and lay my staff on the child's face."
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Then he said to Gehazi, Make yourself ready, and take my stick in your hand, and go: if you come across anyone on the way, give him no blessing, and if anyone gives you a blessing, give him no answer. And put my stick on the child's face.
30 The mother of the child said, "As ADONAI lives, and as you live, I will not leave you. He got up and followed her.
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But the mother of the child said, As the Lord is living and as your soul is living, I will not go back without you. So he got up and went with her.
31 Geichazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the child's face, but there was no sound or sign of life. So he went back to Elisha and told him, "The child didn't wake up."
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And Gehazi went on before them and put the stick on the child's face; but there was no voice, and no one gave attention. So he went back, and meeting him gave him the news, saying, The child is not awake.
32 When Elisha reached the house, there the child was, dead and laid on the bed.
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And when Elisha came into the house he saw the child dead, stretched on his bed.
33 He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to ADONAI.
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So he went in, and shutting the door on the two of them, made prayer to the Lord.
34 Then he got up on the bed and lay on top of the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands. As he stretched himself out on the child, its flesh began to grow warm.
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Then he got up on the bed, stretching himself out on the child, and put his mouth on the child's mouth, his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands; and the child's body became warm.
35 Then he went down, walked around in the house awhile, went back up and stretched himself out on the child again. The child sneezed seven times, then opened his eyes.
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Then he came back, and after walking once through the house and back, he went up, stretching himself out on the child seven times; and the child's eyes became open.
36 Elisha called Geichazi and said, "Call this Shunamit." So he called her; and when she came in to him, he said, "Pick up your son."
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And he gave orders to Gehazi, and said, Send for the Shunammite. And she came in answer to his voice. And he said, Take up your son.
37 She entered, fell at his feet and prostrated herself on the floor. Then she picked up her son and went out.
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And she came in, and went down on her face to the earth at his feet; then she took her son in her arms and went out.
38 Elisha went back to Gilgal. At the time, there was a famine in the land. The guild prophets were sitting before him, and he said to his servant, "Put the big pot on the fire, and boil some soup for the prophets."
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And Elisha went back to Gilgal, now there was very little food in the land; and the sons of the prophets were seated before him. And he said to his servant, Put the great pot on the fire, and make soup for the sons of the prophets.
39 One of them went out to the field to gather vegetables and came upon a wild vine, from which he filled the front of his cloak with wild squash. On returning he cut them up and put them into the stew; they didn't know what they were.
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And one went out into the field to get green plants and saw a vine of the field, and pulling off the fruit of it till the fold of his robe was full, he came back and put the fruit, cut up small, into the pot of soup, having no idea what it was.
40 Then they poured it out for the men to eat; but on tasting it, they cried, "Man of God! There's death in that pot!" And they couldn't eat it.
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Then they gave the men soup from the pot. And while they were drinking the soup, they gave a cry, and said, O man of God, there is death in the pot; and they were not able to take any more food.
41 But he said, "Bring some flour." He threw it in the pot, then said, "Pour it out for the people to eat." This time there was nothing harmful in the pot.
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But he said, Get some meal. And he put it into the pot, and said, Now give it to the people so that they may have food. And there was nothing bad in the pot.
42 A man came from Ba'al-Shalishah bringing the man of God twenty loaves of bread made from the barley firstfruits and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, "Give this to the people to eat."
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Now a man came from Baal-shalishah with an offering of first-fruits for the man of God, twenty barley cakes and garden fruit in his bag. And he said, Give these to the people for food.
43 His servant said, "How am I to serve this to a hundred men?" But he said, "Give it to the people to eat; for ADONAI says that they will eat and have some left over."
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But his servant said, How am I to put this before a hundred men? But he said, Give it to the people for food; for the Lord says, There will be food for them and some over.
44 So he served them, and they ate and had some left over, as ADONAI had said.
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So he put it before them, and they had a meal and there was more than enough, as the Lord had said.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.