Jehoram Restores the Shunammite’s Land

Now (A)Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, “Arise and go [a]with your household, and live wherever you can live; for the (B)Lord has called for a famine, and (C)it will indeed come on the land for seven years.” So the woman arose and acted in accordance with the word of the man of God: she went with her household and resided in the land of the Philistines for seven years. Then at the end of seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and she went to [b]appeal to the king for her house and for her field. Now the king was speaking with (D)Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Please report to me all the great things that Elisha has done.” And as he was reporting to the king (E)how he had restored to life the one who was dead, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life [c]appealed to the king for her house and for her field. And Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.” When the king asked the woman, she told everything to him. So the king appointed an officer for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers and all the produce of the field from the day that she left the land even until now.”

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 8:1 Lit you and your
  2. 2 Kings 8:3 Lit cry out
  3. 2 Kings 8:5 Lit cried out

Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the Lord hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.

And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.

And it came to pass at the seven years' end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land.

And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done.

And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.

And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.

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Elisha had told the woman whose son he had brought back to life, “Take your family and move to some other country, for the Lord has called down a famine on Israel that will last for seven years.”

So the woman took her family and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years. After the famine ended, she returned to the land of Israel and went to see the king about getting back her house and land. Just as she came in, the king was talking with Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, and saying, “Tell me some stories of the great things Elisha has done.” And Gehazi was telling the king about the time when Elisha brought a little boy back to life. At that very moment, the mother of the boy walked in!

“Oh, sir!” Gehazi exclaimed. “Here is the woman now, and this is her son—the very one Elisha brought back to life!”

“Is this true?” the king asked her. And she told him that it was. So he directed one of his officials to see to it that everything she had owned was restored to her, plus the value of any crops that had been harvested during her absence.

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