^17 (A)Some time later the son of the woman, the owner of the house, fell sick, and his sickness grew more severe until he stopped breathing. ¹⁸ So she said to Elijah, “Why have you done this to me, man of God? Have you come to me to call attention to my guilt and to kill my son?” ¹⁹ Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” Taking him from her lap, he carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. ²⁰ He called out to the Lord: “Lord, my God, will you afflict even the widow with whom I am staying by killing her son?” ²¹ Then he stretched himself out upon the child three times and he called out to the Lord: “Lord, my God, let the life breath return to the body of this child.” ²² The Lord heard the prayer of Elijah; the life breath returned to the child’s body and he lived. ²³ Taking the child, Elijah carried him down into the house from the upper room and gave him to his mother. Elijah said, “See! Your son is alive.” ²⁴ The woman said to Elijah, “Now indeed I know that you are a man of God, and it is truly the word of the Lord that you speak.”

³⁰ But the boy’s mother cried out: “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not release you.” So he started back with her.

³¹ Meanwhile, Gehazi had gone on ahead and had laid the staff upon the boy, but there was no sound, no response. He returned to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.” ³² When Elisha reached the house, he found the boy dead, lying on the bed. ³³ He went in, closed the door on them both, and prayed to the Lord. ³⁴ Then he lay upon the child on the bed, placing his mouth upon the child’s mouth, his eyes upon the eyes, and his hands upon the hands. As Elisha stretched himself over the child, the boy’s flesh became warm.^{(A) 35} He arose, paced up and down the room, and then once more stretched himself over him, and the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.^{(B) 36} Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” He called her, and she came to him, and Elisha said to her, “Take your son.” ³⁷ She came in and fell at his feet in homage; then she took her son and left.

²⁴ he said, “Go away! The girl is not dead but sleeping.”^[a] And they ridiculed him.

^39 [a](A)So he went in and said to them, “Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.”

^52 [a](A)All were weeping and mourning for her, when he said, “Do not weep any longer, for she is not dead, but sleeping.”