2 Kings 4; 2 Kings 5; 2 Kings 6; Luke 24:36-53

1 One of the wives of a disciple of the prophets called to Elisha, "Sir, my husband is dead! You know how he feared the LORD. Now a creditor has come to take my two children as slaves."

2 Elisha asked her, "What should I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?" She answered, "I have nothing in the house except a jar of olive oil."

3 Elisha said, "Borrow many empty containers from all your neighbors.

4 Then close the door behind you and your children, and pour oil into all those containers. When one is full, set it aside."

5 So she left him and closed the door behind her and her children. The children kept bringing containers to her, and she kept pouring.

6 When the containers were full, she told her son, "Bring me another container." He told her, "There are no more containers." So the olive oil stopped flowing.

7 She went and told the man of God. He said, "Sell the oil, and pay your debt. The rest is for you and your children."

8 One day Elisha was traveling through Shunem, where a rich woman lived. She had invited him to eat [with her]. So whenever he was in the area, he stopped in to eat.

9 She told her husband, "I know he's a holy man of God. And he regularly travels past our house.

10 Let's make a small room on the roof and put a bed, table, chair, and lamp stand there for him. He can stay there whenever he comes to visit us."

11 One day he came [to their house], went into the upstairs room, and rested there.

12 He told his servant Gehazi, "Call this Shunem woman." Gehazi called her, and she stood in front of him.

13 Elisha said to Gehazi, "Ask her what we can do for her, since she has gone to a lot of trouble for us. Maybe she would like us to speak to the king or the commander of the army for her." She answered, "I'm already living among my own people."

14 "What should we do for her?" Elisha asked. Gehazi answered, "Well, she has no son, and her husband is old."

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

16 Elisha said, "At this time next spring, you will hold a baby boy in your arms." She answered, "Don't say that, sir. Don't lie to me. You're a man of God."

17 But the woman became pregnant and had a son at that time next year, as Elisha had told her.

18 Several years later the boy went to his father, who was with the harvest workers.

19 [Suddenly,] he said to his father, "My head! My head!" The father told his servant, "Carry him to his mother."

20 The servant picked him up and brought him to his mother. The boy sat on her lap until noon, when he died.

21 She took him upstairs and laid him on the bed of the man of God, left [the room], and shut the door behind her.

22 She called her husband and said, "Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys. I will go quickly to the man of God and come back again."

23 Her husband asked, "Why are you going to him today? It isn't a New Moon Festival or a day of worship." But she said goodbye to him.

24 She saddled the donkey. Then she told her servant, "Lead on. Don't slow down unless I tell you."

25 So she came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When he saw her coming at a distance, he told his servant Gehazi, "There is the woman from Shunem.

26 Run to meet her and ask her how she, her husband, and the boy are doing." "Everyone's fine," she answered.

27 When she came to the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi went to push her away. But the man of God said, "Leave her alone. She is bitter. The LORD has hidden the reason from me. He hasn't told me."

28 The woman said, "I didn't ask you for a son. I said, 'Don't raise my hopes.'"

29 The man of God told Gehazi, "Put on a belt, take my shepherd's staff in your hand, and go. Whenever you meet anyone, don't stop to greet him. If he greets you, don't stop to answer him. Lay my staff on the boy's face."

30 The boy's mother said, "I solemnly swear, as the LORD and you live, I will not leave without you." So Elisha got up and followed her.

31 Gehazi went ahead of them and put the staff on the boy's face, but there was no sound or sign of life. So Gehazi came back to meet the man of God. Gehazi told him, "The boy didn't wake up."

32 When Elisha came to the house, the dead boy was lying on Elisha's bed.

33 He went into the room, closed the door, and prayed to the LORD.

34 Then he lay on the boy, putting his mouth on the boy's mouth, his eyes on the boy's eyes, his hands on the boy's hands. He crouched over the boy's body, and it became warm.

35 Elisha got up, walked across the room and came back, and then got back on the bed and crouched over him. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

36 Elisha called Gehazi and said, "Call the Shunem woman." Gehazi called her. When she came to him, he said, "Take your son."

37 Then she immediately bowed at his feet. She took her son and left.

38 When Elisha went back to Gilgal, there was a famine in the country. [One day,] while the disciples of the prophets were meeting with him, he told his servant, "Put a large pot on the fire, and cook some stew for the disciples of the prophets."

39 One of them went into the field to gather vegetables and found a wild vine. He filled his clothes with wild gourds. Then he cut them into the pot of stew without knowing what they were.

40 They dished out the food for the men to eat. As they were eating the stew, they cried out, "There's death in the pot, man of God!" So they couldn't eat it.

41 Elisha said, "Bring some flour." He threw it into the pot and said, "Dish it out for the people to eat." Then there was nothing harmful in the pot.

42 A man from Baal Shalisha brought bread made from the first harvested grain, 20 barley loaves, and fresh grain to the man of God. The man of God said, "Give it to the people to eat."

43 But his servant asked, "How can I set this in front of a hundred people?" "Give it to the people to eat," the man of God said. "This is what the LORD says: They will eat and even have some left over."

44 The servant set it in front of them. They ate and had some left over, as the LORD had predicted.

1 Naaman, the commander of the Aramean king's army, was respected and highly honored by his master. The LORD had given Aram a victory through Naaman. This man was a good soldier, but he had a skin disease.

2 Once, when the Arameans went on raids, they had brought back a little girl from Israel. She became the servant of Naaman's wife.

3 The girl told her mistress, "If only my master were with the prophet in Samaria. Then the prophet could cure him of his skin disease."

4 Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said.

5 The king of Aram said, "You may go. I will also send a letter to the king of Israel." When Naaman left, he took 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and 10 sets of clothing with him.

6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel. It read, "I'm sending my officer Naaman with this letter. Cure him of his skin disease."

7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes[in distress]. He asked, "Am I God? Can I kill someone and then bring him back to life? This man sends someone to me so that I can cure his skin disease! All of you should realize and understand that he's trying to pick a fight with me."

8 But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a messenger to the king. He asked, "Why did you tear your clothes? Please let Naaman come to me and find out that there is a prophet in Israel."

9 Naaman came with his horses and chariot and stopped at the entrance to Elisha's home.

10 Elisha sent a messenger to him. He said, "Wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River, and your skin will be healthy and clean."

11 But Naaman became angry and left. He said, "I thought he would at least come out[of his house], stand somewhere, call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the[infected] place, and heal the skin disease.

12 The Abana and Pharpar Rivers in Damascus have better water than any of the rivers in Israel. Couldn't I wash in them and be clean?" So he turned around and left in anger.

13 But Naaman's servants went to him and said, "Master, if the prophet had asked you to do some extraordinary act, wouldn't you have done it? Why shouldn't you do as he said: 'Wash and be clean'?"

14 So he went to dip himself in the Jordan River seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. His skin became healthy again like a little child's skin.

15 Then he and all his men returned to the man of God. Naaman stood in front of Elisha and said, "Now I know that there's no god in the whole world, except the God of Israel. So please accept a present from me."

16 Elisha said, "I solemnly swear, as the LORD whom I serve lives, I will not accept it." Naaman urged him to take it, but he refused.

17 So Naaman said, "If you won't take it, please have someone give me as much dirt as a pair of mules can carry. From now on I will sacrifice to the LORD alone. I will not offer any burnt offering or sacrifice to any other gods.

18 May the LORD forgive me when my master goes to the temple of Rimmon to worship, leans on my arm, and I have to bow down in the temple of Rimmon. When I do this, may the LORD forgive me for this one thing."

19 Elisha told Naaman, "Go in peace." After Elisha had left him and gone some distance,

20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha (the man of God), thought, "My master let this Aramean Naaman go without accepting what he had brought. As sure as the LORD lives, I'll run after Naaman and get something from him."

21 So Gehazi went after Naaman. When Naaman saw Gehazi running after him, he got down from his chariot to speak to him. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

22 Gehazi answered, "No. My master has sent me. He says, 'Just now two young men from the disciples of the prophets in the hills of Ephraim have arrived. Please give them 75 pounds of silver and two sets of clothing.'"

23 Naaman replied, "Please let me give you 150 pounds of silver." Naaman urged him [to take the silver]. Naaman tied up 150 pounds of silver in two bags with two sets of clothing. He gave them to a couple of his own servants to carry in front of Gehazi.

24 When Gehazi came to the Ophel in Samaria, he took these things and put them away in the house. Then he dismissed the men, and they left.

25 He went and stood in front of his master. Elisha asked him, "Where were you, Gehazi?" "I didn't go anywhere," he answered.

26 Then Elisha said to him, "I went with you in spirit when the man turned around in his chariot to speak to you. How could you accept silver, clothes, olive orchards, vineyards, sheep, cattle, or slaves?

27 Naaman's skin disease will cling to you and your descendants permanently!" When he left Elisha, Gehazi had a disease that made his skin as flaky as snow.

1 The disciples of the prophets said to Elisha, "The place where we're staying is too small for us.

2 Let's go to the Jordan River. Each of us can get some logs and make a place for us to live there." Elisha said, "Go ahead."

3 Then one of the disciples asked, "Won't you please come with us?" Elisha answered, "I'll go."

4 So he went with them. They came to the Jordan River and began to cut down trees.

5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the ax head fell into the water. He cried out, "Oh no, master! It was borrowed!"

6 The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?" When he showed Elisha the place, Elisha cut off a piece of wood. He threw it into the water at that place and made the ax head float.

7 Elisha said, "Pick it up." The disciple reached for it and picked it up.

8 Whenever the king of Aram was fighting against Israel, he asked for advice from his officers about where they were to camp.

9 So the man of God would send a message to the king of Israel, "Be careful not to go by that place. The Arameans are hiding there."

10 Then the king of Israel would send someone to the place that the man of God told him about. Elisha warned them so that they would be on their guard. He did this repeatedly.

11 The king of Aram was very angry about this. He called his officers and asked them, "Won't you tell me who among us is [a spy] for the king of Israel?"

12 One of his officers answered, "No one, Your Majesty. Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel everything you say--even what you say in your bedroom."

13 The king said, "Find out where he is. Then I will send men to capture him." The king was told, "He is in Dothan."

14 So the king sent horses and chariots and a large fighting unit there. They came at night and surrounded the city.

15 When the servant of the man of God got up in the morning and went outside, he saw troops, horses, and chariots surrounding the city. Elisha's servant asked, "Master, what should we do?"

16 Elisha answered, "Don't be afraid. We have more forces on our side than they have on theirs."

17 Then Elisha prayed, "LORD, please open his eyes so that he may see." The LORD opened the servant's eyes and let him see. The mountain around Elisha was full of fiery horses and chariots.

18 As the Arameans came down to get him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, "Please strike these people with blindness." The LORD struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.

19 Elisha told them, "This isn't the way! This isn't the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you're looking for." So he led them into Samaria.

20 When they came into Samaria, Elisha said, "LORD, open the eyes of these men, and let them see." The LORD opened their eyes and let them see that they were in the middle of Samaria.

21 When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, "Master, should I kill them? Should I kill them?"

22 Elisha answered, "Don't kill them. Do you kill everyone you take captive in combat? Give them food and water. Let them eat and drink. Then let them go back to their master."

23 So the king prepared a great feast for them. They ate and drank, and then he sent them back to their master. After this, Aramean troops didn't raid Israel's territory anymore.

24 Later King Benhadad of Aram assembled his whole army. They went to Samaria and blockaded it.

25 The shortages caused by the blockade of Samaria became so severe that a donkey's head sold for two pounds of silver and a half-pint of dove manure for two ounces of silver.

26 As the king of Israel was walking on the city wall, a woman cried to him, "Help me, Your Majesty!"

27 He answered, "If the LORD doesn't help you, how can I help you? I can't give you something from the threshing floor or the winepress."

28 Then the king asked her, "What's the matter?" She answered, "This woman told me, 'Give up your son. Let's eat him today. We'll eat my son tomorrow.'

29 So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I told her, 'Give up your son. We'll eat him,' but she hid her son."

30 When the king heard the woman say this, he tore his clothes [in distress]. As he was walking on the city wall, the people saw that he was wearing sackcloth under his clothes.

31 He said, "May God strike me dead if the head of Elisha, son of Shaphat, stays on his [body] today."

32 Elisha was sitting in his home with the [city's] leaders. The king had sent one of his men ahead of him [to Elisha's house]. But before the messenger arrived, Elisha asked the leaders, "Do you see how this murderer has sent someone to tear off my head? When the messenger comes, close the door. Hold it shut because the king will be following him."

33 While he was still talking to them, the messenger arrived. He said to Elisha, "This severe famine is from the LORD. Why should I wait any longer for the LORD [to help us]?"

36 While they were talking about what had happened, Jesus stood among them. He said to them, "Peace be with you!"

37 They were terrified, and thought they were seeing a ghost.

38 He asked them, "Why are you afraid? Why do you have doubts?

39 Look at my hands and feet, and see that it's really me. Touch me, and see for yourselves. Ghosts don't have flesh and bones, but you can see that I do."

40 As he said this, he showed them his hands and feet.

41 The disciples were overcome with joy and amazement because this seemed too good to be true. Then Jesus asked them, "Do you have anything to eat?"

42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish.

43 He took it and ate it while they watched him.

44 Then he said to them, "These are the words I spoke to you while I was still with you. I told you that everything written about me in Moses' Teachings, the Prophets, and the Psalms had to come true."

45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

46 He said to them, "Scripture says that the Messiah would suffer and that he would come back to life on the third day.

47 Scripture also says that by the authority of Jesus people would be told to turn to God and change the way they think and act so that their sins will be forgiven. This would be told to people from all nations, beginning in the city of Jerusalem.

48 You are witnesses to these things.

49 "I'm sending you what my Father promised. Wait here in the city until you receive power from heaven."

50 Then Jesus took them to a place near Bethany. There he raised his hands and blessed them.

51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken to heaven.

52 The disciples worshiped him and were overjoyed as they went back to Jerusalem.

53 They were always in the temple, where they praised God.