2 Kings 4

Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead. You know that your servant feared the LORD. Now the creditor has come to take for himself my two children to be slaves.”

Elisha said to her, “What should I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She said, “Your servant has nothing in the house, except a pot of oil.”

Then he said, “Go, borrow empty containers from all your neighbors. Don’t borrow just a few containers.

Go in and shut the door on you and on your sons, and pour oil into all those containers; and set aside those which are full.”

So she went from him, and shut the door on herself and on her sons. They brought the containers to her, and she poured oil.

When the containers were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another container.” He said to her, “There isn’t another container.” Then the oil stopped flowing.

Then she came and told the man of God. He said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”

One day Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a prominent woman; and she persuaded him to eat bread. So it was, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread.

She said to her husband, “See now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God who passes by us continually.

Please, let’s make a little room on the roof. Let’s set a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp stand for him there. When he comes to us, he can stay there.”

One day he came there, and he went to the room and lay there.

He said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” When he had called her, she stood before him.

He said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Behold, you have cared for us with all this care. What is to be done for you? Would you like to be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the army?’” She answered, “I dwell among my own people.”

He said, “What then is to be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Most certainly she has no son, and her husband is old.”

He said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the door.

He said, “At this season next year, you will embrace a son.” She said, “No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your servant.”

The woman conceived, and bore a son at that season when the time came around, as Elisha had said to her.

When the child was grown, one day he went out to his father to the reapers.

He said to his father, “My head! My head!” He said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.”

When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon, and then died.

She went up and laid him on the man of God’s bed, and shut the door on him, and went out.

She called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants, and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and come again.”

He said, “Why would you want to go to him today? It is not a new moon or a Sabbath.” She said, “It’s all right.”

Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, “Drive, and go forward! Don’t slow down for me, unless I ask you to.”

So she went, and came to the man of God to Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her afar off, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Behold, there is the Shunammite.

Please run now to meet her, and ask her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with your child?’” She answered, “It is well.”

When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is troubled within her; and the LORD has hidden it from me, and has not told me.”

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

Then he said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand, and go your way. If you meet any man, don’t greet him; and if anyone greets you, don’t answer him again. Then lay my staff on the child’s face.”

The child’s mother said, “As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So he arose, and followed her.

Gehazi went ahead of them, and laid the staff on the child’s face; but there was no voice and no hearing. Therefore he returned to meet him, and told him, “The child has not awakened.”

When Elisha had come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and lying on his bed.

He went in therefore, and shut the door on them both, and prayed to the LORD.

He went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. He stretched himself on him; and the child’s flesh grew warm.

Then he returned, and walked in the house once back and forth, then went up and stretched himself out on him. Then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

He called Gehazi, and said, “Call this Shunammite!” So he called her. When she had come in to him, he said, “Take up your son.”

Then she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; then she picked up her son, and went out.

Elisha came again to Gilgal. There was a famine in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his servant, “Get the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”

One went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered a lap full of wild gourds from it, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew; for they didn’t recognize them.

So they poured out for the men to eat. As they were eating some of the stew, they cried out and said, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.

But he said, “Then bring meal.” He threw it into the pot; and he said, “Serve it to the people, that they may eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

A man from Baal Shalishah came, and brought the man of God some bread of the first fruits: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give to the people, that they may eat.”

His servant said, “What, should I set this before a hundred men?” But he said, “Give it to the people, that they may eat; for the LORD says, ‘They will eat, and will have some left over.’”

So he set it before them and they ate and had some left over, according to the LORD’s word.

Chapter overviewAI-generated

Overview.
This chapter presents a series of miracles performed by Elisha that demonstrate the power and compassion of God in the face of human desperation. It moves from a widow’s economic crisis to the resurrection of a child and ends with the provision of food during famine. These acts reveal God’s care for the vulnerable, His faithfulness to His word, and the authority He grants His prophets to mediate His provision and restoration.

Flow.

Elisha helps a destitute widow by miraculously multiplying her oil, saving her sons from slavery and sustaining her household.
He then blesses a Shunammite woman with a promised son, who later dies but is restored to life through Elisha’s intervention.
The narrative continues with Elisha purifying a deadly stew, showing God’s power over danger and death even in small, everyday matters.
Finally, Elisha feeds a hundred men with twenty loaves and grain, a sign of abundant provision reminiscent of future messianic signs.

Connections.
Following chapter 3, which closes with Moab subdued but Israel still in spiritual decline, chapter 4 shifts focus from national conflicts to individual encounters with God’s prophet, revealing divine faithfulness in private suffering and daily need. These miracles anticipate the coming of the Messiah who will truly multiply loaves (cf. WCF 8.6) and conquer death. The theme of resurrection in the Shunammite’s story prepares for chapter 5, where Naaman—like the dead boy—will be restored to life, not physically but spiritually, through cleansing from leprosy.

What it teaches.
God is the provider and sustainer of life, sovereign over both material need and death itself (WCF 5.6). The oil’s multiplication illustrates His power to create from nothing when His people act in faith (HC LD 9). The raising of the child underscores the truth that life is in God’s hands alone and that His promises, even those that seem impossible, are sure (; cf. Canons of Dort 1.8). The cleansing of the stew and the feeding of the hundred declare that God preserves and blesses His covenant people, meeting their needs according to His word (; cf. WCF 4.2). These signs confirm Elisha as a true prophet whose word carries divine authority (; cf. Belgic Confession A.5).

Apply.
Where human resources end, God begins—trusting His word means acting even when provision seems impossible.

AI-generated. Not a substitute for Scripture, your pastor, or the confessions.