Chapter 4

The Widow’s Oil. ^1 (A)A certain woman, the widow of one of the guild prophets, cried out to Elisha: “My husband, your servant, is dead. You know that he revered the Lord, yet now his creditor has come to take my two children into servitude.”^{[a] 2} Elisha answered her, “What am I to do for you? Tell me what you have in the house.” She replied, “This servant of yours has nothing in the house but a jug of oil.” ³ He said, “Go out, borrow vessels from all your neighbors—as many empty vessels as you can. ⁴ Then come back and close the door on yourself and your children; pour the oil into all the vessels, and as each is filled, set it aside.” ⁵ So she went out. She closed the door on herself and her children and, as they handed her the vessels, she would pour in oil. ⁶ When all the vessels were filled, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” He answered, “There is none left.” And then the oil stopped. ⁷ She went and told the man of God, who said, “Go sell the oil to pay off your creditor; with what remains, you and your children can live.”

^25 [a]Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land.^{(A) 26 [b]}It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath^(B) in the land of Sidon.