2 Kings 4 ISV NLT Parallel

◄ 2 Kings 4 ►

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1Now there happened to be a certain woman who had been the wife of a member of the Guild of Prophets. She cried out to Elisha, "My husband who served you has died, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. But a creditor has come to take away my children into indentured servitude!"

1One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the LORD. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.”

2Elisha responded, "What shall I do for you? Tell me what you have in your house." She replied, "Your servant has nothing in the entire house except for a flask of oil."

2“What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” “Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied.

3He told her, "Go out to all of your neighbors in the surrounding streets and borrow lots of pots from them. Don't get just a few empty vessels, either.

3And Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors.

4Then go in and shut the door behind you, taking only your children, and pour oil into all of the pots. As each one is filled, set it aside."

4Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.”

5So she left Elisha, shut the door behind her and her children, and while they kept on bringing vessels to her, she kept on pouring oil.

5So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another.

6When the last of the vessels had been filled, she told her son, "Bring me another pot!" But he replied, "There isn't even one pot left." Then the oil stopped flowing.

6Soon every container was full to the brim! “Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons. “There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing.

7After this, she went and told the man of God what had happened. So he said, "Go sell the oil, pay your debt, and you and your children will be able to live on the proceeds."

7When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, “Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what is left over.” Elisha and the Woman from Shunem

8Some time later, Elisha went to Shunem, where he met a prominent and wealthy woman who persuaded him to have a meal with her. As a result, whenever he was in the area, he stopped by to eat with her.

8One day Elisha went to the town of Shunem. A wealthy woman lived there, and she urged him to come to her home for a meal. After that, whenever he passed that way, he would stop there for something to eat.

9So she had a talk with her husband. "Look here! I've learned that this is a holy and godly man who comes by here on a regular basis.

9She said to her husband, “I am sure this man who stops in from time to time is a holy man of God.

10Now then, let's build a small upper room and put a bed in it for him there, along with a table, a chair, and a lamp stand. That way, when he comes to visit, he can rest there."

10Let’s build a small room for him on the roof and furnish it with a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp. Then he will have a place to stay whenever he comes by.”

11One day, Elisha came by to visit and stopped in to rest in the upper chamber.

11One day Elisha returned to Shunem, and he went up to this upper room to rest.

12He told his attendant Gehazi, "Call this Shunammite." So when he had summoned her, she stood in front of him.

12He said to his servant Gehazi, “Tell the woman from Shunem I want to speak to her.” When she appeared,

13Elisha told him, "Ask her, 'Look how you've gone to all this trouble to care for us! What can I do for you? Do you wish to be mentioned to the king or to the head of the army?'" She replied, "I'm at home living among my own people."

13Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tell her, ‘We appreciate the kind concern you have shown us. What can we do for you? Can we put in a good word for you to the king or to the commander of the army?’” “No,” she replied, “my family takes good care of me.”

14He responded, "What, then, is to be done on her behalf?" Gehazi answered, "Well, she has no son and her husband is growing old."

14Later Elisha asked Gehazi, “What can we do for her?” Gehazi replied, “She doesn’t have a son, and her husband is an old man.”

15"Call her," Elisha ordered. After he called her, she came and stood in the doorway,

15“Call her back again,” Elisha told him. When the woman returned, Elisha said to her as she stood in the doorway,

16and he told her, "About this time next year you will be embracing a son." "No, sir! Please, as a godly man, don't mislead your servant!"

16“Next year at this time you will be holding a son in your arms!” “No, my lord!” she cried. “O man of God, don’t deceive me and get my hopes up like that.”

17But the woman did conceive and did bear a son at that very same time the next year, just as Elisha had told her.

17But sure enough, the woman soon became pregnant. And at that time the following year she had a son, just as Elisha had said.

18After the child had grown up a bit, one day he went out to visit his father, who was with the harvesters.

18One day when her child was older, he went out to help his father, who was working with the harvesters.

19He told his father, "My head! My head!" So his father ordered his servant, "Carry him over to his mother!"

19Suddenly he cried out, “My head hurts! My head hurts!” His father said to one of the servants, “Carry him home to his mother.”

20So the servant carried him over to his mother, where he rested on her lap until mid-day, and then he died.

20So the servant took him home, and his mother held him on her lap. But around noontime he died.

21The woman went upstairs, laid him on the bed belonging to the man of God, and shut the door, leaving him behind as she left.

21She carried him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and left him there.

22Then she called to her husband and asked him, "Please send me one of the servants, along with one of the donkeys, so I can ride quickly to see that godly man. I'll be right back."

22She sent a message to her husband: “Send one of the servants and a donkey so that I can hurry to the man of God and come right back.”

23He asked her, "What's the point of visiting him today? It's not a New Moon, and it isn't the Sabbath!" But she kept saying, "Things will go well."

23“Why go today?” he asked. “It is neither a new moon festival nor a Sabbath.” But she said, “It will be all right.”

24So she saddled a donkey and told her servant, "Forward, driver! Don't slow down on my account, unless I tell you!"

24So she saddled the donkey and said to the servant, “Hurry! Don’t slow down unless I tell you to.”

25So out she went and eventually she arrived at Mount Carmel to visit the man of God. When the man of God noticed her from a distance, he told his attendant Gehazi, "Look! There's the woman from Shunem!

25As she approached the man of God at Mount Carmel, Elisha saw her in the distance. He said to Gehazi, “Look, the woman from Shunem is coming.

26Please run out quickly and greet her. Ask her, 'Are things going well with you? Are things going well with your husband? Are things going well with your child?'" She answered Gehazi, "Things are going well."

26Run out to meet her and ask her, ‘Is everything all right with you, your husband, and your child?’” “Yes,” the woman told Gehazi, “everything is fine.”

27As she came near the man of God on the mountain, she grabbed his feet. When Gehazi intervened to push her away, the man of God said, "Leave her alone! She is deeply troubled! The LORD has concealed the thing from me, and hasn't informed me."

27But when she came to the man of God at the mountain, she fell to the ground before him and caught hold of his feet. Gehazi began to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone. She is deeply troubled, but the LORD has not told me what it is.”

28Then she asked, "Did I ask my lord for a son? Didn't I beg you, 'Don't mislead me?'"

28Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? And didn’t I say, ‘Don’t deceive me and get my hopes up’?”

29At this he told Gehazi, "Get ready to run! Take my staff in your hand, and get on the road. Don't greet anyone you meet. If anyone greets you, don't respond. Just go lay my staff on the youngster's face."

29Then Elisha said to Gehazi, “Get ready to travel ; take my staff and go! Don’t talk to anyone along the way. Go quickly and lay the staff on the child’s face.”

30At this, the youngster's mother replied, "As long as you and the LORD live, I'm not leaving you!" So he got up and followed her.

30But the boy’s mother said, “As surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, I won’t go home unless you go with me.” So Elisha returned with her.

31Meanwhile, Gehazi went on ahead of them and placed the staff on the youngster's face, but when there was no sound or reaction, he returned, met Elisha, and told him, "The youngster has shown no sign of awakening."

31Gehazi hurried on ahead and laid the staff on the child’s face, but nothing happened. There was no sign of life. He returned to meet Elisha and told him, “The child is still dead.”

32When Elisha entered the house, there was the youngster, dead and laid out on Elisha's bed!

32When Elisha arrived, the child was indeed dead, lying there on the prophet’s bed.

33So he entered, shut the door behind them both, and prayed to the LORD.

33He went in alone and shut the door behind him and prayed to the LORD.

34Then he approached the child and lay down with his mouth near the child's, with his eyes near those of the child, and taking the child's hands in his. As Elisha stretched himself on the child, the child's flesh began to grow warm.

34Then he lay down on the child’s body, placing his mouth on the child’s mouth, his eyes on the child’s eyes, and his hands on the child’s hands. And as he stretched out on him, the child’s body began to grow warm again!

35Then he went downstairs, walked around back and forth inside the house once, went back up to his upper chamber, and stretched himself over the child again. The young man sneezed seven times and then opened his eyes.

35Elisha got up, walked back and forth across the room once, and then stretched himself out again on the child. This time the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes!

36He called out to Gehazi, "Go get the Shunammite woman!" So he called her. When she came in to see Elisha, he told her, "Take back your son!"

36Then Elisha summoned Gehazi. “Call the child’s mother!” he said. And when she came in, Elisha said, “Here, take your son!”

37Then she approached him, fell at his feet, bowing low to the ground, took back her son, and went out.

37She fell at his feet and bowed before him, overwhelmed with gratitude. Then she took her son in her arms and carried him downstairs. Miracles during a Famine

38Elisha returned to Gilgal during a time of famine in the land. While the Guild of Prophets were having a meal with him, he instructed his attendant, "Put a large pot on the fire and boil some stew for the Guild of Prophets."

38Elisha now returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land. One day as the group of prophets was seated before him, he said to his servant, “Put a large pot on the fire, and make some stew for the rest of the group.”

39Somebody went out into the fields to grab some herbs, found a wild vine, and gathered a lap full of wild gourds, which he came and sliced up into the stew pot, but nobody else knew.

39One of the young men went out into the field to gather herbs and came back with a pocketful of wild gourds. He shredded them and put them into the pot without realizing they were poisonous.

40When they served the men, they began to eat the stew. But they cried out, "That pot of stew is deadly, you man of God!" So they couldn't eat the stew.

40Some of the stew was served to the men. But after they had eaten a bite or two they cried out, “Man of God, there’s poison in this stew!” So they would not eat it.

41But he replied, "Bring me some flour." He tossed it into the pot and said, "Serve the people so they can eat." Then there was nothing harmful in the pot.

41Elisha said, “Bring me some flour.” Then he threw it into the pot and said, “Now it’s all right; go ahead and eat.” And then it did not harm them.

42Later on, a man arrived from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God some bread as a first fruit offering. He had 20 loaves of barley and ripe ears of corn in his sack. So Elisha said, "Give them to the people so they can eat."

42One day a man from Baal-shalishah brought the man of God a sack of fresh grain and twenty loaves of barley bread made from the first grain of his harvest. Elisha said, “Give it to the people so they can eat.”

43Elisha's attendant asked, "What? Will this serve 100 men?" But he replied, "Distribute it to the people so they can eat, because this is what the LORD says: 'They will eat and have a surplus!'"

43“What?” his servant exclaimed. “Feed a hundred people with only this?” But Elisha repeated, “Give it to the people so they can eat, for this is what the LORD says: Everyone will eat, and there will even be some left over!”

44So he served them, and they ate and had some left over, just as the LORD had indicated.

44And when they gave it to the people, there was plenty for all and some left over, just as the LORD had promised.

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