International Children’s Bible

2 Kings 4:5-22 International Children’s Bible (ICB)

5. She left Elisha and shut the door. Only she and her sons were in the house. As they brought the jars to her, she poured the oil.

6. When the jars were all full, she said to her son, “Bring me another jar.”But he said, “There are no more jars.” Then the oil stopped flowing.

7. She went and told Elisha. Elisha said to her, “Go. Sell the oil and pay what you owe. You and your sons can live on what is left.”

8. One day Elisha went to Shunem. An important woman lived there. She begged Elisha to stay and eat. So every time Elisha passed by, he stopped there to eat.

9. The woman said to her husband, “I know that Elisha is a holy man of God. He passes by our house all the time.

10. Let’s make a small room on the roof. Let’s put a bed in the room for Elisha. And we can put a table, a chair and a lampstand there. Then when he comes by, he can stay there.”

11. One day Elisha came to the woman’s house. He went to his room and rested.

12. He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.”When the servant called her, she stood in front of him.

13. Elisha told his servant, “Now say to her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. What can I do for you? Do you want me to speak to the king or the commander of the army for you?’ ”The woman answered, “I live among my own people.”

14. Elisha said, “But what can we do for her?”Gehazi answered, “She has no son, and her husband is old.”

15. Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway.

16. Then Elisha said, “About this time next year, you will hold a son in your arms.”The woman said, “No, master, man of God. Don’t lie to me!”

17. But the woman became pregnant. And she gave birth to a son at that time the next year as Elisha had told her.

18. The child grew. One day he went out to his father, who was with the men harvesting grain.

19. The boy said to his father, “My head! My head!”The father said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother!”

20. The servant took him to his mother. He lay on his mother’s lap until noon. Then he died.

21. She took him up and laid him on Elisha’s bed. Then she shut the door and went out.

22. She called to her husband. She said, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys. Then I can go quickly to the man of God and come back.”