2 Kings 4:1-7

The Widow's Oil Multiplied

1 One of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant, my husband, has died. You know that your servant feared the Lord. Now the creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves."^[a]

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

3 Then he said, "Go and borrow empty containers from everyone-from all your neighbors. Do not get just a few.

4 Then go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour oil into all these containers. Set the full ones to one side."

5 So she left. After she had shut the door behind her and her sons, they kept bringing her [containers], and she kept pouring.

6 When they were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another container." But he replied, "There aren't any more." Then the oil stopped.

7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go sell the oil and pay your debt; you and your sons can live on the rest."^[b]

2 Kings 4:1-7 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lv 25:39-41
• [b]. 1 Kg 17:10-16