2 Kings 4:8-37

Holman Christian Standard Bible

The Shunammite Woman’s Hospitality

⁸ One day Elisha went to Shunem.^(A) A prominent woman who lived there persuaded him to eat some food. So whenever he passed by, he stopped there to eat.^{(B) 9} Then she said to her husband, “I know that the one who often passes by here is a holy man of God, ¹⁰ so let’s make a small room upstairs and put a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp there for him. Whenever he comes, he can stay there.”^(C)

The Shunammite Woman’s Son

¹¹ One day he came there and stopped and went to the room upstairs to lie down. ¹² He ordered his attendant Gehazi,^(D) “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her and she stood before him.

¹³ Then he said to Gehazi, “Say to her, ‘Look, you’ve gone to all this trouble for us. What can we do for you?^(E) Can we speak on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?’”

She answered, “I am living among my own people.”

¹⁴ So he asked, “Then what should be done for her?”

Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.”

¹⁵ “Call her,” Elisha said. So Gehazi called her, and she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶ Elisha said, “At this time next year you will have a son in your arms.”^(F)

Then she said, “No, my lord. Man of God, do not deceive your servant.”^(G)

¹⁷ The woman conceived and gave birth to a son at the same time the following year, as Elisha had promised her.

The Shunammite’s Son Raised

¹⁸ The child grew and one day went out to his father and the harvesters.^{(H) 19} Suddenly he complained to his father, “My head! My head!”

His father told his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰ So he picked him up and took him to his mother. The child sat on her lap until noon and then died. ²¹ Then she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut him in, and left.

²² She summoned her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so I can hurry to the man of God and then come back.”

²³ But he said, “Why go to him today? It’s not a New Moon or a Sabbath.”^(I)

She replied, “Everything is all right.”^(J)

²⁴ Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Hurry, don’t slow the pace for me unless I tell you.” ²⁵ So she set out and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel.^(K)

When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to his attendant Gehazi,^(L) “Look, there’s the Shunammite woman.^{(M) 26} Run out to meet her and ask, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your son all right?’”

And she answered, “Everything’s all right.”

²⁷ When she came up to the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet.^(N) Gehazi came to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone—she is in severe anguish,^(O) and the Lord has hidden it from me. He hasn’t told me.”

²⁸ Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not deceive me?’”^(P)

²⁹ So Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your mantle^(Q) under your belt, take my staff with you, and go. If you meet anyone, don’t stop to greet him, and if a man greets you, don’t answer him.^(R) Then place my staff on the boy’s face.”

³⁰ The boy’s mother said to Elisha, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”^(S) So he got up and followed her.

³¹ Gehazi went ahead of them and placed the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or sign of life, so he went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy didn’t wake up.”^(T)

³² When Elisha got to the house, he discovered the boy lying dead on his bed.^{(U) 33} So he went in, closed the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord.^{(V) 34} Then he went up and lay on the boy:^(W) he put mouth to mouth, eye to eye, hand to hand. While he bent down over him, the boy’s flesh became warm.^{(X) 35} Elisha got up, went into the house, and paced back and forth. Then he went up and bent down over him again. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.^(Y)

³⁶ Elisha called Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” He called her and she came. Then Elisha said, “Pick up your son.” ³⁷ She came, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; she picked up her son and left.^(Z)