July
6
2
Kings 4-6
2Ki
4:1 Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the
prophets to Elisha, saying, Your servant my husband is dead; and you
know that your servant feared Yahweh: and the creditor has come to
take for himself my two children to be slaves.
2Ki
4:2 Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? tell me; what do
you have in the house? She said, Your handmaid has nothing in the
house, except a pot of oil.
2Ki
4:3 Then he said, Go, borrow containers from of all your neighbors,
even empty containers. Don't borrow just a few.
2Ki
4:4 You shall go in, and shut the door on you and on your sons, and
pour out into all those containers; and you shall set aside that
which is full.
2Ki
4:5 So she went from him, and shut the door on her and on her sons;
they brought the containers to her, and she poured out.
2Ki
4:6 It happened, when the containers were full, that she said to her
son, Bring me another container. He said to her, There isn't another
container. The oil stopped flowing.
2Ki
4:7 Then she came and told the man of God. He said, Go, sell the
oil, and pay your debt, and you and your sons live on the rest.
2Ki
4:8 It fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where there was
a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. So it was, that
as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread.
2Ki
4:9 She said to her husband, See now, I perceive that this is a holy
man of God, that passes by us continually.
2Ki
4:10 Let us make, Please, a little chamber on the wall; and let us
set for him there a bed, and a table, and a seat, and a lamp stand:
and it shall be, when he comes to us, that he shall turn in there.
2Ki
4:11 It fell on a day, that he came there, and he turned into the
chamber and lay there.
2Ki
4:12 He said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. When he
had called her, she stood before him.
2Ki
4:13 He said to him, Say now to her, Behold, you have cared for us
with all this care; what is to be done for you? would you like to be
spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the army? She answered,
I dwell among my own people.
2Ki
4:14 He said, What then is to be done for her? Gehazi answered, Most
certainly she has no son, and her husband is old.
2Ki
4:15 He said, Call her. When he had called her, she stood in the
door.
2Ki
4:16 He said, At this season, when the time comes round, you shall
embrace a son. She said, No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to
your handmaid.
2Ki
4:17 The woman conceived, and bore a son at that season, when the
time came round, as Elisha had said to her.
2Ki
4:18 When the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to
his father to the reapers.
2Ki
4:19 He said to his father, My head, my head. He said to his
servant, Carry him to his mother.
2Ki
4:20 When he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on
her knees until noon, and then died.
2Ki
4:21 She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut
the door on
him, and went out.
2Ki
4:22 She called to her husband, and said, Please send me one of the
servants, and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God,
and come again.
2Ki
4:23 He said, Why would you want go to him today? it is neither new
moon nor Sabbath. She said, It shall be well.
2Ki
4:24 Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, Drive, and
go forward; don't slacken me the riding, unless I ask you to.
2Ki
4:25 So she went, and came to the man of God to Mount Carmel. It
happened, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to
Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is the Shunammite:
2Ki
4:26 please run 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.
2Ki
4:27 When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of
his feet. Gehazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of God
said, Let her alone: for her soul is troubled within her; and Yahweh
has hid it from me, and has not told me.
2Ki
4:28 Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? Didn't I say, Do
not deceive me?
2Ki
4:29 Then he said to Gehazi, "Tuck your cloak into your belt,
take my staff in your hand, and go your way. If you meet any man,
don't greet him; and if anyone greets you, don't answer him again.
Then lay my staff on the face of the child."
2Ki
4:30 The mother of the child said, As Yahweh lives, and as your soul
lives, I will not leave you. He arose, and followed her.
2Ki
4:31 Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff on the face of
the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Therefore he
returned to meet him, and told him, saying, The child has not
awakened.
2Ki
4:32 When Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was
dead, and laid on his bed.
2Ki
4:33 He went in therefore, and shut the door on them both, and
prayed to Yahweh.
2Ki
4:34 He went up, 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.
2Ki
4:35 Then he returned, and walked in the house once back and forth;
and went up, and stretched himself on him: and the child sneezed
seven times, and the child opened his eyes.
2Ki
4:36 He called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called
her. When she was come in to him, he said, Take up your son.
2Ki
4:37 Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to
the ground; and she took up her son, and went out.
2Ki
4:38 Elisha came again to Gilgal. There was a dearth in the land;
and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to
his servant, Set on the great pot, and boil stew for the sons of the
prophets.
2Ki
4:39 One went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild
vine, and gathered of it wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred
them into the pot of stew; for they didn't recognize them.
2Ki
4:40 So they poured out for the men to eat. It happened, as they
were eating of the stew, that they cried out, and said, man of God,
there is death in the pot. They could not eat of it.
2Ki
4:41 But he said, Then bring meal. He cast it into the pot; and he
said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. There was no harm
in the pot.
2Ki
4:42 There came a man from Baal Shalishah, and brought the man of
God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh
ears of grain in his sack. He said, Give to the people, that they may
eat.
2Ki
4:43 His servant said, What, should I set this before a hundred men?
But he said, Give the people, that they may eat; for thus says
Yahweh, They shall eat, and shall leave of it.
2Ki
4:44 So he set it before them, and they ate, and left of it,
according to the word of Yahweh.
2Ki
5:1 Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a
great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Yahweh had
given victory to Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, but
he was a leper.
2Ki
5:2 The Syrians had gone out in bands, and had brought away captive
out of the land of Israel a little maiden; and she waited on Naaman's
wife.
2Ki
5:3 She said to her mistress, Would that my lord were with the
prophet who is in Samaria! then would he recover him of his leprosy.
2Ki
5:4 One went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the
maiden who is of the land of Israel.
2Ki
5:5 The king of Syria said, Go now, and I will send a letter to the
king of Israel. He departed, and took with him ten talents of silver,
and six thousand pieces
of gold, and ten changes of clothing.
2Ki
5:6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when
this letter has come to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to
you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.
2Ki
5:7 It happened, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that
he tore his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive,
that this man does send to me to recover a man of his leprosy? but
consider, please, and see how he seeks a quarrel against me.
2Ki
5:8 It was so, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of
Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Why
have you torn your clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know
that there is a prophet in Israel.
2Ki
5:9 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots, and stood
at the door of the house of Elisha.
2Ki
5:10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the
Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall come again to you, and you
shall be clean.
2Ki
5:11 But Naaman was angry, and went away, and said, Behold, I
thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the
name of Yahweh his God, and wave his hand over the place, and recover
the leper.
2Ki
5:12 Aren't Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than
all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he
turned and went away in a rage.
2Ki
5:13 His servants came near, and spoke to him, and said, My father,
if the prophet had asked you do some great thing, wouldn't you have
done it? how much rather then, when he says to you, Wash, and be
clean?
2Ki
5:14 Then went he down, and dipped himself
seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God;
and his flesh came again like the flesh of a little child, and he was
clean.
2Ki
5:15 He returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and
came, and stood before him; and he said, See now, I know that there
is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, please take
a present from your servant.
2Ki
5:16 But he said, As Yahweh lives, before whom I stand, I will
receive none. He urged him to take it; but he refused.
2Ki
5:17 Naaman said, If not, yet, please let there be given to your
servant two mules' burden of earth; for your servant will henceforth
offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice to other gods, but to
Yahweh.
2Ki
5:18 In this thing Yahweh pardon your servant: when my master goes
into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand,
and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the
house of Rimmon, Yahweh pardon your servant in this thing.
2Ki
5:19 He said to him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little
way.
2Ki
5:20 But Gehazi the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold,
my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not receiving at his
hands that which he brought: as Yahweh lives, I will run after him,
and take somewhat of him.
2Ki
5:21 So Gehazi followed after Naaman. When Naaman saw one running
after him, he alighted from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all
well?
2Ki
5:22 He said, All is well. My master has sent me, saying, Behold,
even now there are come to me from the hill country of Ephraim two
young men of the sons of the prophets; please give them a talent of
silver, and two changes of clothing.
2Ki
5:23 Naaman said, Be pleased to take two talents. He urged him, and
bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of
clothing, and laid them on two of his servants; and they bore them
before him.
2Ki
5:24 When he came to the hill, he took them from their hand, and
bestowed them in the house; and he let the men go, and they departed.
2Ki
5:25 But he went in, and stood before his master. Elisha said to
him, Where do you come from, Gehazi? He said, Your servant went
nowhere.
2Ki
5:26 He said to him, Didn't my heart go with you, when the man
turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money,
and to receive garments, and olive groves and vineyards, and sheep
and cattle, and male servants and female servants?
2Ki
5:27 The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cling to you and to your
seed forever. He went out from his presence a leper, as white as
snow.
2Ki
6:1 The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, See now, the place
where we dwell before you is too small for us.
2Ki
6:2 Let us go, please, to the Jordan, and every man a beam from
there, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. He
answered, Go!
2Ki
6:3 One said, "Please be pleased to go with your servants."
He answered, "I will go."
2Ki
6:4 So he went with them. When they came to the Jordan, they cut
down wood.
2Ki
6:5 But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water;
and he cried, and said, Alas, my master! for it was borrowed.
2Ki
6:6 The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?" He showed
him the place. He cut down a stick, threw it in there, and made the
iron float.
2Ki
6:7 He said, "Take it." So he put out his hand and took
it.
2Ki
6:8 Now the king of Syria was warring against Israel; and he took
counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be
my camp.
2Ki
6:9 The man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, Beware that
you not pass such a place; for there the Syrians are coming down.
2Ki
6:10 The king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told
him and warned him of; and he saved himself there, not once nor
twice.
2Ki
6:11 The heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this
thing; and he called his servants, and said to them, Won't you show
me which of us is for the king of Israel?
2Ki
6:12 One of his servants said, No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the
prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you
speak in your bedchamber.
2Ki
6:13 He said, Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.
It was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.
2Ki
6:14 Therefore sent he there horses, and chariots, and a great army:
and they came by night, and surrounded the city.
2Ki
6:15 When the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone
forth, behold, an army with horses and chariots was around the city.
His servant said to him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?
2Ki
6:16 He answered, Don't be afraid; for those who are with us are
more than those who are with them.
2Ki
6:17 Elisha prayed, and said, Yahweh, Please open his eyes, that he
may see. Yahweh opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and
behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around
Elisha.
2Ki
6:18 When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh, and said,
Please smite this people with blindness. He struck them with
blindness according to the word of Elisha.
2Ki
6:19 Elisha said to them, This is not the way, neither is this the
city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek. He
led them to Samaria.
2Ki
6:20 It happened, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha
said, Yahweh, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. Yahweh
opened their eyes, and they saw; and behold, they were in the midst
of Samaria.
2Ki
6:21 The king of Israel said to Elisha, when he saw them, My father,
shall I strike them? shall I strike them?
2Ki
6:22 He answered, You shall not strike them: would you strike those
whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? set
bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to
their master.
2Ki
6:23 He prepared great provision for them; and when they had eaten
and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. The
bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.
2Ki
6:24 It happened after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered
all his army, and went up, and besieged Samaria.
2Ki
6:25 There was a great famine in Samaria: and behold, they besieged
it, until a donkey's head was sold for eighty pieces
of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five
pieces of
silver.
2Ki
6:26 As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, there cried a
woman to him, saying, Help, my lord, O king.
2Ki
6:27 He said, If Yahweh doesn't help you, from where could I help
you? From of the threshing floor, or from the winepress?
2Ki
6:28 The king said to her, "What ails you?" She answered,
"This woman said to me, 'Give your son, that we may eat him
today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.'
2Ki
6:29 So we boiled my son, and ate him: and I said to her on the next
day, 'Give your son, that we may eat him;' and she has hidden her
son."
2Ki
6:30 It happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, that
he tore his clothes (now he was passing by on the wall); and the
people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth within on his flesh.
2Ki
6:31 Then he said, God do so to me, and more also, if the head of
Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stay on him this day.
2Ki
6:32 But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were
sitting with him; and the king
sent a man from before him: but before the messenger came to him, he
said to the elders, Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent to
take away my head? behold, when the messenger comes, shut the door,
and hold the door fast against him: isn't the sound of his master's
feet behind him?
2Ki
6:33 While he was yet talking with them, behold, the messenger came
down to him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of Yahweh; why should
I wait for Yahweh any longer?
