The Widow’s Oil

Now a woman of the wives of (A)the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord; and (B)the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except (C)a jar of oil.” Then he said, “Go, [a]borrow containers [b]elsewhere for yourself, empty containers from all your neighbors—do not get too few. Then you shall come in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour into all these containers; and you shall set aside what is full.” So she left him and shut the door behind her and her sons; they began bringing the containers to her, and she poured the oil. When (D)the containers were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another container.” But he said to her, “There [c]are no more containers.” Then the oil stopped. So she came and told (E)the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons can live on the rest.”

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 4:3 Lit request
  2. 2 Kings 4:3 Lit from outside
  3. 2 Kings 4:6 Lit is...container

One day the wife of one of the seminary students came to Elisha to tell him of her husband’s death. He was a man who had loved God, she said. But he had owed some money when he died, and now the creditor was demanding it back. If she didn’t pay, he said he would take her two sons as his slaves.

“What shall I do?” Elisha asked. “How much food do you have in the house?”

“Nothing at all, except a jar of olive oil,” she replied.

“Then borrow many pots and pans from your friends and neighbors!” he instructed. “Go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Then pour olive oil from your jar into the pots and pans, setting them aside as they are filled!”

So she did. Her sons brought the pots and pans to her, and she filled one after another! Soon every container was full to the brim!

“Bring me another jar,” she said to her sons.

“There aren’t any more!” they told her. And then the oil stopped flowing!

When she told the prophet what had happened, he said to her, “Go and sell the oil and pay your debt, and there will be enough money left for you and your sons to live on!”

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