A man from the group of prophets had a wife. This man died, and his wife cried out to Elisha, "My husband was like a servant to you. Now he is dead! You know he honored the Lord. But he owed money to a man. Now that man is coming to take my two boys and make them his slaves!"
Elisha answered, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?" The woman said, "I don't have anything in the house except a jar of olive oil."
Then go to your house and close the doors. Only you and your sons will be in the house. Then pour the oil into all the bowls. Fill them, and put them in a separate place."
So the woman left Elisha, went into her house, and shut the door. Only she and her sons were in the house. Her sons brought the bowls to her and she poured oil.
She filled many bowls. Finally, she said to her son, "Bring me another bowl." But all of the bowls were full. One of the sons said to her, "There aren't any more bowls." Then the oil in the jar was finished!
When she told the man of God what had happened, Elisha said to her, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debt. You and your sons can live on the money that is left."
One day Elisha went to Shunem, where an important woman lived. She asked Elisha to stop and eat at her house. So every time Elisha went through that place, he stopped there to eat.
Please, let's make a little room on the roof for him. Let's put a bed in this room and a table, a chair, and a lampstand. Then when he comes to our house, he can have this room for himself."
Elisha told his servant, "Now say to her, 'Look, you have done your best to take care of us. What can we do for you? Do you want us to speak to the king for you, or to the captain of the army?'" She answered, "I am fine living here among my own people."
Elisha said, "About this time next spring, you will be holding your own baby boy in your arms." The woman said, "No, sir! Man of God, don't lie to me!"
The woman went to Mount Carmel to get the man of God. The man of God saw the Shunammite woman coming from far away and said to his servant Gehazi, "Look, there's the Shunammite woman!
Please run now to meet her! Say to her, 'Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is the child all right?'" She answered, "Everything is all right."
But the Shunammite woman went up the hill to the man of God. She bowed down and touched Elisha's feet. Gehazi came near to pull her away. But the man of God said to Gehazi, "Leave her alone! She's very upset, and the Lord didn't tell me about it. The Lord hid this news from me."
Then Elisha said to Gehazi, "Get ready to go. Take my walking stick and go! If you meet anyone along the way, don't even stop to say hello to him. If anyone says hello to you, don't answer. Put my walking stick on the child's face."
Gehazi arrived at the house before Elisha and the Shunammite woman. Gehazi laid the walking stick on the child's face, but the child did not talk or show any sign that he heard anything. Then Gehazi came back to meet Elisha and said, "The child will not wake up!"
Elisha went to the bed and lay on the child. He put his eyes on the child's eyes, his mouth on the child's mouth, his hands on the child's hands. He lay there on top of the child until the child's body became warm.
Elisha went to Gilgal again. There was a famine in the land. The group of prophets was sitting in front of Elisha. Elisha said to his servant, "Put the large pot on the fire, and make some soup for the group of prophets."
One man went out into the field to gather herbs. He found a wild vine and picked the fruit from it. He put that fruit in his robe and brought it back. He cut up the wild fruit and put it into the pot. But the group of prophets did not know what kind of fruit it was.
Then they poured some of the soup for the men to eat. But when they began to eat the soup, they shouted out, "Man of God! There's poison in the pot!" The food tasted like poison, so they could not eat that food.
But Elisha said, "Bring some flour." He threw the flour into the pot. Then he said, "Pour the soup for the people so that they can eat." And there was nothing wrong with the soup.
A man from Baal Shalishah came and brought bread from the first harvest to the man of God. This man brought 20 loaves of barley bread and fresh grain in his sack. Then Elisha said, "Give this food to the people, so that they can eat."
Elisha's servant said, "What? There are 100 men here. How can I give this food to all those men?" But Elisha said, "Give the food to the people to eat. The Lord says, 'They will eat and there will still be food left over.'"
Then Elisha's servant put the food in front of the group of prophets. The group of prophets had enough to eat, and they even had food left over. This happened just as the Lord had said.