2 Kings 4

A certain woman of the wives of the company of the prophets cried out to Al-Yasa, saying, Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that your servant feared Allah: and the creditor has come to take my two children to be slaves. 2Al-Yasa said to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me; what do you have in the house? She said, Your servant has nothing in the house, except a jar of oil. 3Then he said, Go, borrow empty containers from all your neighbours; don’t borrow just a few. 4Then go into your house, shut the door behind you and on your sons, and pour oil into all those containers; set aside that which is full. 5So she went from him, and shut the door behind her and on her sons; they brought the containers to her, and she poured out the oil. 6It happened, when the containers were full, that she said to her son, Bring me another container. He said to her, There are no more containers. The oil stopped flowing. 7Then she came and told the man of God. He said, Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt. You and your sons live on the rest. 8It happened one day, that Al-Yasa went to Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived; and she urged him to eat some food. So it was, that whenever he passed by, he turned in there to eat. 9She said to her husband, See now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, who regularly comes our way. 10Let’s make a small room on the roof and put for him there a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp stand: and it shall be, when he comes to us, that he shall turn in there. 11It happened one day, that he came there, and he turned into the room and lay there. 12He said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. When he had called her, she stood before him. 13He said to Gehazi, Say now to her, Behold, you have taken good care of us; what is to be done for you? Should I speak to the king for you, or to the captain of the army? She answered, I dwell among my own people. 14He said, What then is to be done for her? Gehazi answered, Most assuredly she has no son, and her husband is old. 15He said, Call her. When he had called her, she stood in the door. 16He said, About this time next year, you shall embrace a son. She said, No, my lord, O man of God, do not lie to your servant. 17But the woman conceived, and bore a son at about that time the next year, as Al-Yasa had said to her. 18When the child grew older, it happened one day, that he went out to his father among the reapers. 19He said to his father, My head, my head! He said to his servant, Carry him to his mother. 20When he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon, and then died. 21She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door on him, and went out. 22She called to her husband, and said, Send me one of the servants, and one of the donkeys, that I may hurry to the man of God, and return. 23He said, Why will you go to him today? It is neither new moon nor Sabbath. She said, It’s alright. 24Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, Hurry, and go forward; do not slacken the pace for you unless I tell you. 25So she went, and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her afar off, he said to Gehazi his servant, Look, the Shunammite woman! 26Run now to meet her, and ask her, Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child? She answered, It is well. 27When she came to the man of God at the hill, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to push her away; but the man of God said, Leave her alone: for her soul is in deep distress; and Allah has hid it from me, and has not told me. 28Then she said, Did I ask a son of my lord? Didn’t I say, Do not deceive me? 29Then he said to Gehazi, Get yourself ready, and take my staff in your hand, and go your way. If you meet any man, do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do not answer him again. Lay my staff on the face of the child. 30The mother of the child said, As Allah lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. He arose, and followed her. 31Gehazi went on ahead of them, and laid the staff on the face of the child; but there was no sound or response. Therefore Gehazi returned to meet Al-Yasa, and told him, The child has not awakened. 32When Al-Yasa came into the house, the child was dead, and lying on his bed. 33So Al-Yasa went in, shut the door, and prayed to Allah. 34He went over and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands: and he stretched himself on him; and the flesh of the child grew warm. 35Then Al-Yasa turned away, and walked back and forth in the house; and again went up, and stretched himself on him: then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. 36He called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite woman. So he called her. When she came in to him, he said, Pick up your son. 37Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; and she took up her son, and went out. 38Al-Yasa returned to Gilgal. There was a famine in the land; and the company of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his servant, Put on the large pot, and cook stew for the company of prophets. 39One went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered a lapful of wild gourds from it, and came and shred them into the pot of stew; but they did not know what they were. 40So they poured out the stew for the men to eat. As they were eating the stew, they cried out, and said, Man of God, there is death in the pot. They could not eat of it. 41But he said, Then bring some flour. He put it into the pot; and he said, Pour out the stew for the people, that they may eat. There was nothing harmful in the pot. 42There came a man from Baal Shalishah, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and newly ripened grain in his sack. He said, Give it to the people, that they may eat. 43His servant said, What, should I set this before a hundred men? But he said, Give it to the people, that they may eat; for thus says Allah, They shall eat, and have some left over. 44So he set it before them, and they ate, and had some left over, according to the word of Allah.

 

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