Common English Bible

2 Kings 4:10-21 Common English Bible (CEB)

10. Let’s make a small room on the roof. We’ll set up a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp for him there. Then when he comes to us, he can stay there."

11. So one day Elisha came there, headed to the room on the roof, and lay down.

12. He said to his servant Gehazi, "Call this Shunammite woman." Gehazi called her, and she stood before him.

13. Elisha then said to Gehazi, "Say to her, ‘Look, you’ve gone to all this trouble for us. What can I do for you? Is there anything I can say on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?’"She said, "I’m content to live at home with my own people."

14. Elisha asked, "So what can be done for her?"Gehazi said, "Well, she doesn’t have a son, and her husband is old."

15. Elisha said, "Call her." So Gehazi called her, and she stood at the door.

16. Elisha said, "About this time next year, you will be holding a son in your arms."But she said, "No, man of God, sir; don’t lie to your servant."

17. But the woman conceived and gave birth to a son at about the same time the next year. This was what Elisha had promised her.

18. The child grew up. One day he ran to his father, who was with the harvest workers.

19. He said to his father, "Oh, my head! My head!"The father said to a young man, "Carry him to his mother."

20. So he picked up the boy and brought him to his mother.The boy sat on her lap until noon. Then he died.

21. She went up and laid him down on the bed for the man of God. Then she went out and closed the door.