The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha. She said, "My husband is dead. You know how much respect he had for the Lord. But he owed money to someone. And now that person is coming to take my two boys away. They will become his slaves."
Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me. What do you have in your house?" "I don't have anything there at all," she said. "All I have is a little olive oil."
When all of the jars were full, she spoke to one of her sons. She said, "Bring me another jar." But he replied, "There aren't any more left." Then the oil stopped flowing.
One day Elisha went to the town of Shunem. A rich woman lived there. She begged him to stay and have a meal. So every time he came by, he stopped there to eat.
Let's make a small room for him on the roof. We'll put a bed and a table in it. We'll also put a chair and a lamp in it. Then he can stay there when he comes to visit us."
He said to Gehazi, "Tell her, 'You have gone to a lot of trouble for us. Now what can we do for you? Can we speak to the king for you? Or can we speak to the commander of the army for you?' " She replied, "I live among my own people. I have everything I need here."
"You will hold a son in your arms," Elisha said. "It will be about this time next year." "No, my master!" she objected. "You are a man of God. So don't lie to me!"
But the woman became pregnant. She had a baby boy. It happened the next year about that same time. That's exactly what Elisha had told her would happen.
"Why do you want to go to him today?" he asked. "It isn't the time for the New Moon Feast. It isn't the Sabbath day." "Don't let that bother you," she said.
So she started out. She came to Mount Carmel. That's where the man of God was. When she was still a long way off, he saw her coming. He said to his servant Gehazi, "Look! There's the woman from Shunem!
She came to the man of God at the mountain. Then she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away. But the man of God said, "Leave her alone! She is suffering terribly. But the Lord hasn't told me the reason for it. He has hidden it from me."
Elisha said to Gehazi, "Tuck your coat into your belt. Take my wooden staff and run to Shunem. Don't say hello to anyone you see. If anyone says hello to you, don't answer. Lay my staff on the boy's face."
Gehazi went on ahead. He laid Elisha's wooden staff on the boy's face. But there wasn't any sound. The boy didn't move at all. So Gehazi went back to Elisha. He told him, "The boy hasn't awakened."
Then he got on the bed. He lay down on the boy. His mouth touched the boy's mouth. His eyes touched the boy's eyes. And his hands touched the boy's hands. As Elisha lay on the boy, the boy's body grew warm.
Elisha turned away. He walked back and forth in the room. Then he got on the bed again. He lay down on the boy once more. The boy sneezed seven times. After that, he opened his eyes.
Elisha returned to Gilgal. There wasn't enough food to eat in that area. The company of the prophets was meeting with Elisha. So he said to his servant, "Put the large pot over the fire. Cook some stew for these men."
One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs. He found a wild vine. He gathered up some of its gourds. He brought them back with him in his coat. Then he cut them up into the pot of stew. But no one knew what they were.
The stew was poured out for the men. They began to eat it. But then they cried out, "Man of God, the food in that pot will kill us!" They couldn't eat it.
Elisha said, "Get some flour." He put it in the pot. He said, "Serve it to the men to eat." Then there wasn't anything in the pot that could harm them.
A man came from Baal Shalishah. He brought the man of God 20 loaves of barley bread. They had been baked from the first grain that had ripened. He also brought some heads of new grain. "Give this food to the people to eat," Elisha said.
"How can I put this in front of 100 men?" his servant asked. But Elisha answered, "Give it to the people to eat. Do it because the Lord says, 'They will eat and have some left over.' "