2 Kings 4:9-19

9 And she said to her husband, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, that passeth oft by us (who often passeth by us);
10 therefore make we a little solar to him, and put we therein a little bed to him, and a board, and a chair, and a candlestick; that when he cometh to us, he dwell there. (and so let us make a solarium for him, and put we a bed in it, and a table, and a chair, and a candlestick for him; so that when he cometh to us, he can rest there.)
11 Therefore a day was made, and Elisha came, and turned in to the solar (and went up to the solarium), and rested there.
12 And he said to Gehazi, his servant, Call thou this Shunammite. And when he had called her, and she had stood before him,
13 he said to his servant, Speak thou to her, Lo! thou hast ministered to us busily in all things; what wilt thou that I do to thee? Whether thou hast a cause, and wilt that I speak to the king, either to the prince of the chivalry? And she answered, I dwell in the midst of my people. (And then she went away.) (he said to his servant, Speak thou to her, and say, Lo! thou hast busily served us in all things; what wilt thou that I do for thee? Hast thou a case, that I speak about to the king, or to the leader of the cavalry, or of the army? And she answered, All is well; I live here in the midst of my people. And then she went away.)
14 And he said, What then will she that I do to her? (And he said, What then desireth her that I should do for her?) [And] Gehazi said to him, Ask thou not (me), for she hath no son, and her husband is eld.
15 Therefore Elisha commanded, that he should call her (back). And when she was called, and stood before the door,
16 he said to her, In this time, as in (the) time of life (At this time, next year), thou shalt embrace a son. And she answered, Do not thou, my lord, the man of God, I beseech (thee), do not thou lie to thine handmaid.
17 And the woman conceived, and childed a son in the time, and in the same hour, in which Elisha had said. (And the woman conceived, and bare a son at the time, and at the hour, in which Elisha had said.)
18 Soothly the child increased; and when some day was, and the child was gone out, and went to his father, and to the reapers, (And the child grew; and then one day, when the child went out to his father, and to the reapers,)
19 he said to his father, Mine head acheth, mine head acheth. And his father said to a servant, Take (him), and lead him to his mother.

2 Kings 4:9-19 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.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.