2 Kings 4 - Easy To Read Version

¹ A man from the group of prophets [22] had a wife. {This man died.} His wife cried out to Elisha, “My husband was like a servant to you. Now my husband is dead! You know he honored the Lord. But he owed money to a man. And now that man is coming to take my two boys and make them his slaves!”

² Elisha answered, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

³ Then Elisha said, “Go and borrow bowls from all your neighbors. They must be empty. Borrow plenty of bowls.

⁴ 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 those bowls. Fill those bowls, and put them in a separate place.”

⁵ 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.

⁶ She filled many bowls. Finally, she said to her son, “Bring me another bowl.”

⁷ Then the woman told the man of God [23] (Elisha) what happened. Elisha told her, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt. After you sell the oil {and pay your debt}, you and your sons can live on the money that is left.”

⁸ One day Elisha went to Shunem. An important woman lived in Shunem. This woman asked Elisha {to stop and} eat at her house. So every time Elisha went through that place, he stopped there to eat.

⁹ The woman said to her husband, “Look, I can see that Elisha is a holy man of God. He passes by our house all the time.

¹⁰ Please, let’s make a little room on the roof [24] for Elisha. Let’s put a bed in this room. Let’s put a table, a chair, and a lampstand in there. Then when he comes to our house, he can have this room for himself.”

¹¹ One day Elisha came to the woman’s house. He went to this room and rested there.

¹² Elisha said to his servant Gehazi, “Call this Shunammite woman.”

¹³ Elisha told his servant, “Now say to this woman, ‘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?’”

¹⁴ Elisha said {to Gehazi}, “What can we do for her?”

¹⁵ Then Elisha said, “Call her.”

¹⁶ Elisha said {to the woman}, “About this time next spring, you will be hugging your own baby boy.”

¹⁷ But the woman did become pregnant. She gave birth to a son that next spring, just like Elisha said.

¹⁸ The boy grew. One day, the boy went out into the fields to see his father and the men cutting the grain.

¹⁹ The boy said to his father, “Oh, my head! My head hurts!”

²⁰ The servant took the boy to his mother. The boy sat on his mother’s lap until noon. Then he died.

²¹ The woman laid the boy on the bed of the man of God [26] (Elisha). She shut the door to that room and went outside.

²² She called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey. Then I will go quickly to get the man of God (Elisha) and come back.”

²³ The woman’s husband said, “Why do you want to go to the man of God (Elisha) today? It isn’t the New Moon [27] or Sabbath day [28] ”

²⁴ Then she put a saddle on a donkey and said to her servant, “Let’s go, and hurry! Go slow only when I tell you!”

²⁵ The woman went to Mount Carmel to get the man of God [29] (Elisha).

²⁶ Please run now to meet her! Say to her, ‘{What’s wrong?} Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is the child all right?’”

²⁷ But the Shunammite woman went up the hill to the man of God [31] (Elisha). She {bowed down and} touched Elisha’s feet. Gehazi came near to pull the Shunammite woman away. But the man of God (Elisha) said to Gehazi, “Let her alone! She’s very upset, and the Lord didn’t tell me about it. The Lord hid this news from me.”

²⁸ Then the Shunammite woman said, “Sir, I never asked for a son. I told you, ‘Don’t trick me’!”

²⁹ Then Elisha said to Gehazi, “Get ready to go. Take my walking stick and go! {Don’t stop to talk to anyone!} If you meet any person, don’t even say hello to him. If any person says hello to you, don’t answer him. Put my walking stick on the child’s face.”

³⁰ But the child’s mother said, “I promise, as the Lord lives and as you live, I won’t leave without you!”

³¹ Gehazi arrived {at the Shunammite woman’s 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. Gehazi told Elisha, “The child won’t wake up!”

³² Elisha went into the house. And there was the child, lying dead on his bed.

³³ Elisha went into the room and shut the door. Elisha and the child were alone in the room now. Then Elisha prayed to the Lord.

³⁴ Elisha went {to the bed} and lay on the child. Elisha put his mouth on the child’s mouth. Elisha put his eyes on the child’s eyes. Elisha put his hands on the child’s hands. Elisha lay there on top of the child until the child’s body became warm.

³⁵ Then Elisha turned away and walked around the room. He went back and lay on the child until the child sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

³⁶ Elisha called Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman!”

³⁷ Then the Shunammite woman went into {the room} and bowed down at Elisha’s feet. Then she picked up her son and went out.

³⁸ Elisha went to Gilgal again. There was a time of hunger in the land. The group of prophets [32] 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.”

³⁹ 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 [33] did not know what kind of fruit it was.

⁴⁰ Then they poured some of the soup for the men to eat. But when they began to eat the soup, they shouted out {to Elisha}, “Man of God [34] ! There’s poison in the pot!” {The food tasted like poison} so they could not eat that food.

⁴¹ But Elisha said, “Bring some flour.” {They brought flour to Elisha}, and he threw it into the pot. Then Elisha said, “Pour the soup for the people so they can eat.”

⁴² A man from Baal Shalishah came and brought bread from the first harvest to the man of God [35] (Elisha). 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.”

⁴³ Elisha’s servant said, “What? There are 100 men here. How can I give this food to all those men?”

⁴⁴ Then Elisha’s servant put the food in front of the group of prophets. [36] The group of prophets had enough to eat, and they even had food left over! This happened just like the Lord said.