2Kings 4 - Prayer Tents



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2Kings 4
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Elisha Helps a Poor Widow

4One 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."H6817H259H802H802H1121H5030H477H559H5650H376H4191H3045H5650H3373H3068H5383H935H3947H8147H3206H5650 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.H477H559H6213H5046H3426H1004H559H8198H1004H610H8081 3And Elisha said, "Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors.H559H3212H7592H3627H2351H7934H7386H3627H4591 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."H935H5462H1817H1121H3332H3627H5265H4392 5So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another.H3212H5462H1817H1157H1121H1992H5066H3332 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.H3627H4390H559H1121H5066H3627H559H3627H8081H5975 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."H935H5046H376H430H559H3212H4376H8081H7999H5386H2421H1121H3498

Elisha and the Woman from Shunem

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.H3117H477H5674H7766H1419H802H2388H398H3899H1767H5674H5493H398H3899 9She said to her husband, "I am sure this man who stops in from time to time is a holy man of God.H559H376H3045H6918H376H430H5674H8548 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."H6213H6996H5944H7023H7760H4296H7979H3678H4501H935H5493 11One day Elisha returned to Shunem, and he went up to this upper room to rest.H3117H935H5493H5944H7901 12He said to his servant Gehazi, "Tell the woman from Shunem I want to speak to her." When she appeared,H559H1522H5288H7121H7767H7121H5975H6440 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."H559H559H2729H2731H6213H3426H1696H4428H8269H6635H559H3427H8432H5971 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."H559H6213H1522H559H61H1121H376H2204 15"Call her back again," Elisha told him. When the woman returned, Elisha said to her as she stood in the doorway,H559H7121H7121H5975H6607 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."H559H4150H6256H2416H2263H1121H559H113H376H430H3576H8198 17But sure enough, the woman soon became pregnant. And at that time the following year she had a son, just as Elisha had said.H802H2029H3205H1121H4150H477H1696H6256H2416 18One day when her child was older, he went out to help his father, who was working with the harvesters.H3206H1431H3117H3318H1H7114 19Suddenly he cried out, "My head hurts! My head hurts!" His father said to one of the servants, "Carry him home to his mother."H559H1H7218H7218H559H5288H5375H517 20So the servant took him home, and his mother held him on her lap. But around noontime he died.H5375H935H517H3427H1290H6672H4191 21She carried him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and left him there.H5927H7901H4296H376H430H5462H3318 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."H7121H376H559H7971H259H5288H259H860H7323H376H430H7725 23"Why go today?" he asked. "It is neither a new moon festival nor a Sabbath." But she said, "It will be all right."H559H1980H3117H2320H7676H559H7965 24So she saddled the donkey and said to the servant, "Hurry! Don't slow down unless I tell you to."H2280H860H559H5288H5090H3212H6113H7392H559 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.H3212H935H376H430H2022H3760H376H430H7200H559H1522H5288H1975H7767 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."H7323H7125H559H7965H7965H376H7965H3206H559H7965 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."H935H376H430H2022H2388H7272H1522H5066H1920H376H430H559H7503H5315H4843H3068H5956H5046 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'?"H559H7592H1121H113H559H7952 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."H559H1522H2296H4975H3947H4938H3027H3212H4672H376H1288H376H1288H6030H7760H4938H6440H5288 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.H517H5288H559H3068H2416H5315H2416H5800H6965H3212H310 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."H1522H5674H6440H7760H4938H6440H5288H6963H7182H7725H7125H5046H559H5288H6974 32When Elisha arrived, the child was indeed dead, lying there on the prophet's bed.H477H935H1004H5288H4191H7901H4296 33He went in alone and shut the door behind him and prayed to the LORD.H935H5462H1817H8147H6419H3068 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!H5927H7901H3206H7760H6310H6310H5869H5869H3709H3709H1457H1320H3206H2552 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!H7725H3212H1004H259H2008H259H2008H5927H1457H5288H2237H7651H6471H5288H6491H5869 36Then Elisha summoned Gehazi. "Call the child's mother!" he said. And when she came in, Elisha said, "Here, take your son!"H7121H1522H559H7121H7767H7121H935H559H5375H1121 37She fell at his feet and bowed before him, overwhelmed with gratitude. Then she took her son in her arms and carried him downstairs.H935H5307H7272H7812H776H5375H1121H3318

Miracles during a Famine

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."H477H7725H1537H7458H776H1121H5030H3427H6440H559H5288H8239H1419H5518H1310H5138H1121H5030 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.H259H3318H7704H3950H219H4672H7704H1612H3950H7704H6498H899H4393H935H6398H5518H5138H3045 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.H3332H582H398H398H5138H6817H559H376H430H4194H5518H3201H398 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.H559H3947H7058H7993H5518H559H3332H5971H398H1697H7451H5518 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."H935H376H1190H935H376H430H3899H1061H6242H3899H8184H3759H6861H559H5414H5971H398 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!"H8334H559H5414H6440H3967H376H559H5414H5971H398H559H3068H398H3498 44And when they gave it to the people, there was plenty for all and some left over, just as the LORD had promised.H5414H6440H398H3498H1697H3068


New Living Translation (NLT). Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. More details.
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