2 Kings 4-6

Complete Jewish Bible

4 The wife of one of the guild prophets complained to Elisha. “Your servant my husband died,” she said, “and you know that he feared Adonai. Now a creditor has come to take my two children as his slaves.” ² Elisha asked her, “What should I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house but a flask of oil.” ³ Then he said, “Go, and borrow containers from all your neighbors, empty containers; and don’t borrow just a few! ⁴ Then go in; shut the door, with you and your sons inside; and pour oil into all those containers; and as they are filled, put them aside.” ⁵ So she left him and shut the door on herself and her sons. They brought her the containers while she poured. ⁶ When the containers were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another container”; but he answered, “There isn’t another container.” Then the oil stopped flowing. ⁷ She came and told the man of God; and he said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt; then you and your sons can live on what’s left.”

⁸ One day Elisha visited Shunem, and a well-to-do woman living there pressed him to stay and eat a meal. After this, whenever he came through, he stopped there for a meal. ⁹ She said to her husband, “I can see that this is a holy man of God who keeps stopping at our place. ¹⁰ Please, let’s build him a little room on the roof. We’ll put a bed and a table in it for him, and a stool and a candlestick. Then, whenever he comes to visit us, he can stay there.”

¹¹ One day Elisha came to visit there, and he went into the upper room to lie down. ¹² He said to Geichazi his servant, “Call this Shunamit.” He called her; and when she arrived, ¹³ he said to him, “Tell her this: ‘You have shown us so much hospitality! What can I do to show my appreciation? Do you want me to say anything to the king for you? or to the commander of the army?” She answered, “I’m happy living as I do, among my own people.” ¹⁴ He said, “What, then, is to be done for her?” Geichazi answered, “There’s one thing — she doesn’t have a son; and her husband is old. ¹⁵ Elisha said, “Call her.” After he called her, she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶ He said, “Next year, when the season comes around, you will be holding a son.” “No, my lord,” she answered. “Man of God, don’t lie to your servant!” ¹⁷ But the woman conceived and gave birth to a son the following year when the season came around, just as Elisha had said to her.

¹⁸ When the child was old enough, he went out one day to be with his father, who was with the reapers. ¹⁹ Suddenly he cried out to his father, “My head! My head hurts!” He said to his servant, “Carry him back to his mother.” ²⁰ When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he lay on her lap until noon; and then he died. ²¹ She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door on him and went out. ²² She called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants with a donkey. I must get to the man of God as fast as I can; I’ll come straight back.” ²³ He asked, “Why are you going to him today? It isn’t Rosh-Hodesh and it isn’t Shabbat.” She said, “It’s all right.” ²⁴ Then she saddled the donkey and ordered her servant, “Drive as fast as you can; don’t slow down for me unless I say so.”

²⁵ She set out and came to the man of God on Mount Karmel. When the man of God saw her in the distance, he said to Geichazi his servant, “Look, here comes that Shunamit. ²⁶ Run now to meet her, and ask her, “Is everything all right with you? with your husband? with the child?” She answered, “Everything is all right.” ²⁷ But when she reached the man of God on the hill, she grabbed his feet. Geichazi came up to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone. She is in great distress, but Adonai has hidden from me what it is, he hasn’t told me.” ²⁸ Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Didn’t I say not to deceive me?” ²⁹ Then Elisha said to Geichazi, “Get dressed for action, take my staff in your hand, and be on your way. If you meet anyone, don’t greet him; if anyone greets you, don’t answer; and lay my staff on the child’s face.” ³⁰ The mother of the child said, “As Adonai lives, and as you live, I will not leave you. He got up and followed her. ³¹ Geichazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the child’s face, but there was no sound or sign of life. So he went back to Elisha and told him, “The child didn’t wake up.”

³² When Elisha reached the house, there the child was, dead and laid on the bed. ³³ He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to Adonai. ³⁴ Then he got up on the bed and lay on top of the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands. As he stretched himself out on the child, its flesh began to grow warm. ³⁵ Then he went down, walked around in the house awhile, went back up and stretched himself out on the child again. The child sneezed seven times, then opened his eyes. ³⁶ Elisha called Geichazi and said, “Call this Shunamit.” So he called her; and when she came in to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” ³⁷ She entered, fell at his feet and prostrated herself on the floor. Then she picked up her son and went out.

³⁸ Elisha went back to Gilgal. At the time, there was a famine in the land. The guild prophets were sitting before him, and he said to his servant, “Put the big pot on the fire, and boil some soup for the prophets.” ³⁹ One of them went out to the field to gather vegetables and came upon a wild vine, from which he filled the front of his cloak with wild squash. On returning he cut them up and put them into the stew; they didn’t know what they were. ⁴⁰ Then they poured it out for the men to eat; but on tasting it, they cried, “Man of God! There’s death in that pot!” And they couldn’t eat it. ⁴¹ But he said, “Bring some flour.” He threw it in the pot, then said, “Pour it out for the people to eat.” This time there was nothing harmful in the pot.

⁴² A man came from Ba‘al-Shalishah bringing the man of God twenty loaves of bread made from the barley firstfruits and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give this to the people to eat.” ⁴³ His servant said, “How am I to serve this to a hundred men?” But he said, “Give it to the people to eat; for Adonai says that they will eat and have some left over.” ⁴⁴ So he served them, and they ate and had some left over, as Adonai had said.

5 Na‘aman, commander of the king of Aram’s army, was highly respected and esteemed by his master; because through him Adonai had brought victory to Aram. But although he was a brave warrior, he also suffered from tzara‘at. ² Now on one of their raids into Isra’el’s territory, Aram carried away captive a little girl, who became a servant for Na‘aman’s wife. ³ She said to her mistress, “I wish my lord could go to the prophet in Shomron! He could heal his tzara‘at.” ⁴ Na‘aman went in and told his lord, “The girl from the land of Isra’el said such-and-such.” ⁵ The king of Aram said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Isra’el.”

He set out, taking with him 660 pounds of silver, 6,000 pieces of gold and ten changes of clothes. ⁶ He brought the king of Isra’el the letter, which said, “When this letter reaches you, you will see that I have sent my servant Na‘aman to you, so that you can heal his tzara‘at.” ⁷ When the king of Isra’el finished reading the letter, he tore his clothes. “Am I God, able to kill and make alive,” he asked, “so that he sends me a man to heal of tzara‘at? You can see that he is only seeking an excuse to quarrel with me.” ⁸ But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Isra’el had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king: “Why did you tear your clothes? Just have him come to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Isra’el.”

⁹ So Na‘aman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house. ¹⁰ Elisha sent a messenger to him, who said, “Go, and bathe in the Yarden seven times. Your skin will become as it was, and you will be clean.” ¹¹ But Na‘aman became angry and left, saying, “Here now! I thought for certain that he would come out personally, that he would stand, call on the name of Adonai his God and wave his hand over the diseased place and thus heal the person with tzara‘at. ¹² Aren’t Amanah and Parpar, the rivers of Dammesek, better than all the water in Isra’el? Why can’t I bathe in them and be clean?” So he turned and went off in a rage. ¹³ But his servants approached him and said, “My father! If the prophet had asked you to do something really difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So, doesn’t it make even more sense to do what he says, when it’s only, ‘Bathe, and be clean’?” ¹⁴ So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Yarden, as the man of God had said to do; and his skin was restored and became like the skin of a child; and he became clean.

¹⁵ Then, with his whole retinue, he returned to the man of God, went and stood before him, and said, “Well, I’ve learned that there is no God in all the earth except in Isra’el; therefore, please accept a present from your servant.” ¹⁶ But Elisha answered, “As Adonai lives, before whom I stand, I will not accept it.” And despite his urging him to take it, he refused. ¹⁷ So Na‘aman said, “If you won’t take it, then please let your servant be given as much earth as two mules can carry; because from now on, your servant will offer neither burnt offerings nor sacrifices to other gods, but only to Adonai. ¹⁸ Except this, and may Adonai forgive your servant for it: when my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the temple of Rimmon — when I bow down, may Adonai forgive your servant for this.” ¹⁹ Elisha said to him, “Go in peace.”

Na‘aman had gone only a short distance from him, ²⁰ when Geichazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, “Here, my master has made it easy on this Arami Na‘aman by not accepting from him what he brought. As Adonai lives, I’ll run after him and get at least something from him.” ²¹ So Geichazi hurried off after Na‘aman. When Na‘aman saw someone running after him, he got down from his chariot to meet him and asked, “Is everything all right?” ²² “Yes,” he replied. “My master sent me with this message: ‘Two young men have just now come to me, guild prophets from the hills of Efrayim. Would you be kind enough to give them a talent of silver [sixty-six pounds] and two changes of clothes?” ²³ “By all means, take two talents!” said Na‘aman, pressing him. He tied up the two talents of silver in two bags and gave them, with the two changes of clothes, to two of his servants, who carried them ahead of Geichazi. ²⁴ On reaching the hill, he took the bags from them and put them away in the house. Then he let the men go, and they left. ²⁵ He went in and stood before his master. Elisha asked, “Where have you been, Geichazi?” “Your servant hasn’t gone anywhere,” he said. ²⁶ Elisha said to him, “Wasn’t my heart there with you when the man left his chariot to meet you? Is this a time to receive silver and clothing — and olive groves and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male and female slaves? ²⁷ Therefore Na‘aman’s tzara‘at will cling to you and your descendants forever.” He left Elisha’s presence with tzara‘at as white as snow.

6 The guild prophets said to Elisha, “As you can see, the place where we are living in order to be with you is too small for us. ² Please allow us to go to the Yarden; each of us will collect a log there, and we’ll build a place there for us to live.” He answered, “Go ahead.” ³ But one of them said, “Please, won’t you come with your servants?” He answered, “All right, I will”; ⁴ so he went with them. When they arrived at the Yarden, they cut down trees; ⁵ but as one was felling a tree trunk, the head of his axe fell in the water. “Oh, no!” he cried. “My master, it was a borrowed one!” ⁶ The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” He showed him the place. Then Elisha cut a stick, threw it in there, and the iron axe-head floated to the surface. ⁷ “Lift it out,” he said. So he put out his hand and took it.

⁸ Now the king of Aram went to war against Isra’el; and in consulting his servants he said, “I’ll set up my ambush camp in such-and-such a place.” ⁹ The man of God sent this message to the king of Isra’el: “Be careful not to go past such-and-such a place, because Aram will attack there.” ¹⁰ So the king of Isra’el sent men to the place the man of God had told him and warned him about, and he took special precautions there. This happened more than once or twice, ¹¹ and it greatly upset the king of Aram. He called his servants and said to them, “Tell me which of you is betraying us to the king of Isra’el?” ¹² One of his servants replied, “It’s not that, my lord, king. Rather, Elisha, the prophet who is in Isra’el, tells the king of Isra’el the words you speak privately in your own bedroom!” ¹³ He said, “Go and see where he is, so that I can send and bring him here.” They told him, “He’s in Dotan.”

¹⁴ So he sent horses, chariots and a large army there; they came by night and surrounded the city. ¹⁵ The servant of the man of God got up early in the morning; on going outside, he saw an army with horses and chariots surrounding the city. His servant said to him, “Oh, my master, this is terrible! What are we going to do?” ¹⁶ He answered, “Don’t be afraid — those who are with us outnumber those who are with them!” ¹⁷ Elisha prayed, “Adonai, I ask you to open his eyes, so that he can see.” Then Adonai opened the young man’s eyes, and he saw: there before him, all around Elisha, the mountain was covered with horses and fiery chariots. ¹⁸ When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Adonai, “Please strike these people blind”; and he struck them blind, as Elisha had asked. ¹⁹ Next, Elisha told them, “You’ve lost your way, and this isn’t even the right city. Follow me, and I’ll take you to the man you’re looking for.” Then he led them to Shomron. ²⁰ On their arrival in Shomron, Elisha said, “Adonai, open the eyes of these men, so that they can see.” Adonai opened their eyes, and they saw: there they were, in the middle of Shomron.

²¹ When the king of Isra’el saw them, he asked Elisha, “My father, should I attack them? Should I attack them?” ²² He answered, “Don’t attack them! You wouldn’t even attack prisoners you had captured with your own sword and bow, would you? So give them food to eat and water to drink, and let them return to their master.” ²³ So he provided well for them; and after they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away; and they returned to their master. After that, no more raiding parties entered the land of Isra’el from Aram.

²⁴ But some time afterwards, Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathered all his army, went up and laid siege to Shomron. ²⁵ At the time, there was a severe famine in Shomron; and they maintained their siege until a donkey’s head sold for eighty pieces of silver and half a pint of doves’ dung for five pieces of silver. ²⁶ As the king of Isra’el was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help, my lord, king!” ²⁷ He said, “If Adonai isn’t helping you, how do you expect me to help you? There isn’t any grain, and there isn’t any wine.” ²⁸ Then the king asked her, “What’s troubling you?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give me your son, so that we can eat him today; and we’ll eat my son tomorrow.’ ²⁹ So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, so that we can eat him,’ but she has hidden her son.” ³⁰ When the king heard what the woman said, he tore his clothes. At the time, he was passing by on the wall; and when the people looked, they saw him there with sackcloth against his skin. ³¹ Then he said, “May God do terrible things to me, and worse ones too, if the head of Elisha the son of Shafat remains on his body by day’s end.” ³² Elisha was sitting in his house, and the leaders were sitting there with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the leaders, “Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent someone to remove my head? Look, when the messenger comes, close the door and keep it shut against him. You can hear his master’s footsteps following right behind him!” ³³ While he was still speaking, the messenger arrived with this message from the king: “Here, this evil is from Adonai. Why should I wait for Adonai any longer?”