The Second Book Melakhim, starting at chapter 4
{4:1} Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of
the prophets to Elisha, saying, Your servant my husband is dead; and
you know that your servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come
to take to him my two children to be bondservants. {4:2} Elisha said
to her, What shall I do for you? tell me; what have you in the house?
She said, Your handmaid has nothing in the house, except a pot of oil.
{4:3} Then he said, Go, borrow you vessels abroad of all your
neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. {4:4} You shall go
in, and shut the door on you and on your sons, and pour out into all
those vessels; and you shall set aside that which is full. {4:5} So
she went from him, and shut the door on her and on her sons; they
brought [the vessels] to her, and she poured out. {4:6} It happened,
when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, Bring me yet a
vessel. He said to her, There isn't another vessel. The oil stayed.
{4:7} Then she came and told the man of God. He said, Go, sell the
oil, and pay your debt, and live you and your sons of the rest. {4:8}
It fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great
woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. So it was, that as often
as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread. {4:9} She said to
her husband, See now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, that
passes by us continually. {4:10} Let us make, Please, a little chamber
on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a
seat, and a lamp stand: and it shall be, when he comes to us, that he
shall turn in there. {4:11} It fell on a day, that he came there, and
he turned into the chamber and lay there. {4:12} He said to Gechazi
his servant, Call this Shunammite. When he had called her, she stood
before him. {4:13} He said to him, Say now to her, Behold, you have
been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for you?
would you be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host?
She answered, I dwell among my own people. {4:14} He said, What then
is to be done for her? Gechazi answered, Most assuredly she has no
son, and her husband is old. {4:15} He said, Call her. When he had
called her, she stood in the door. {4:16} He said, At this season,
when the time comes round, you shall embrace a son. She said, No, my
lord, you man of God, do not lie to your handmaid. {4:17} The woman
conceived, and bore a son at that season, when the time came round, as
Elisha had said to her. {4:18} When the child was grown, it fell on a
day, that he went out to his father to the reapers. {4:19} He said to
his father, My head, my head. He said to his servant, Carry him to his
mother. {4:20} When he had taken him, and brought him to his mother,
he sat on her knees until noon, and then died. {4:21} She went up and
laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut [the door] on him, and
went out. {4:22} 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. {4:23} He said, Why will you go to him today?
it is neither new moon nor Shabbat. She said, It shall be well. {4:24}
Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, Drive, and go
forward; don't slacken me the riding, except I bid you. {4:25} So she
went, and came to the man of God to Mount Karmel. It happened, when
the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gechazi his servant,
Behold, yonder is the Shunammite: {4:26} please run now to meet her,
and ask her, Is it well with you? is it well with your husband? is it
well with the child? She answered, It is well. {4:27} When she came to
the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. Gechazi came
near to thrust her away; but the man of God said, Let her alone: for
her soul is vexed within her; and the LORD has hid it from me, and has
not told me. {4:28} Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord?
Didn't I say, Do not deceive me? {4:29} Then he said to Gechazi, Gird
up your loins, and 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: and lay my staff on the face of the child. {4:30} The
mother of the child said, As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I
will not leave you. He arose, and followed her. {4:31} Gechazi passed
on before them, and laid the staff on the face of the child; but there
was neither voice, nor hearing. Therefore he returned to meet him, and
told him, saying, The child has not awakened. {4:32} When Elisha was
come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid on his bed.
{4:33} He went in therefore, and shut the door on them both, and
prayed to the LORD. {4:34} 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: and he stretched himself on him; and the flesh of the child
grew warm. {4:35} Then he returned, and walked in the house once back
and forth; and went up, and stretched himself on him: and the child
sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. {4:36} He called
Gechazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. When she
was come in to him, he said, Take up your son. {4:37} Then she went
in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; and she
took up her son, and went out. {4:38} Elisha came again to Gilgal.
There was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were
sitting before him; and he said to his servant, Set on the great pot,
and boil stew for the sons of the prophets. {4:39} One went out into
the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered of it
wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of
stew; for they didn't recognize them. {4:40} So they poured out for
the men to eat. It happened, as they were eating of the stew, that
they cried out, and said, man of God, there is death in the pot. They
could not eat of it. {4:41} But he said, Then bring meal. He cast it
into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat.
There was no harm in the pot. {4:42} There came a man from
Ba`al-Shalishah, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits,
twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of grain in his sack. He said,
Give to the people, that they may eat. {4:43} His servant said, What,
should I set this before a hundred men? But he said, Give the people,
that they may eat; for thus says the LORD, They shall eat, and shall
leave of it. {4:44} So he set it before them, and they ate, and left
of it, according to the word of the LORD.
{5:1} Now Na`aman, captain of the host of the king of Aram, was a
great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the LORD had
given victory to Aram: he was also a mighty man of valor, [but he was]
a leper. {5:2} The Aram had gone out in bands, and had brought away
captive out of Eretz-Yisra'el a little maiden; and she waited on
Na`aman's wife. {5:3} She said to her mistress, Would that my lord
were with the prophet who is in Shomron! then would he recover him of
his leprosy. {5:4} One went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and
thus said the maiden who is of Eretz-Yisra'el. {5:5} The king of Aram
said, Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Yisra'el. He
departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand
[pieces] of gold, and ten changes of clothing. {5:6} He brought the
letter to the king of Yisra'el, saying, Now when this letter is come
to you, behold, I have sent Na`aman my servant to you, that you may
recover him of his leprosy. {5:7} It happened, when the king of
Yisra'el had read the letter, that he tore his clothes, and said, Am I
God, to kill and to make alive, that this man does send to me to
recover a man of his leprosy? but consider, I pray you, and see how he
seeks a quarrel against me. {5:8} It was so, when Elisha the man of
God heard that the king of Yisra'el had torn his clothes, that he sent
to the king, saying, Why have you torn your clothes? let him come now
to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Yisra'el. {5:9} So
Na`aman came with his horses and with his chariots, and stood at the
door of the house of Elisha. {5:10} Elisha sent a messenger to him,
saying, Go and wash in the Yarden seven times, and your flesh shall
come again to you, and you shall be clean. {5:11} But Na`aman was
angry, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come
out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and
wave his hand over the place, and recover the leper. {5:12} Aren't
Amanah and Parpar, the rivers of Dammesek, better than all the waters
of Yisra'el? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and
went away in a rage. {5:13} His servants came near, and spoke to him,
and said, My father, if the prophet had bid you do some great thing,
wouldn't you have done it? how much rather then, when he says to you,
Wash, and be clean? {5:14} Then went he down, and dipped [himself]
seven times in the Yarden, according to the saying of the man of God;
and his flesh came again like the flesh of a little child, and he was
clean. {5:15} He returned to the man of God, he and all his company,
and came, and stood before him; and he said, See now, I know that
there is no God in all the [1>]eretz[<1], but in Yisra'el: now
therefore, please take a present from your servant. {5:16} But he
said, As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none. He
urged him to take it; but he refused. {5:17} Na`aman said, If not,
yet, please let there be given to your servant two mules' burden of
[2>]eretz[<2]; for your servant will henceforth offer neither burnt
offering nor sacrifice to other gods, but to the LORD. {5:18} In this
thing the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house
of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow myself
in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the
LORD pardon your servant in this thing. {5:19} He said to him, Go in
shalom. So he departed from him a little way. {5:20} But Gechazi the
servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master has spared
this Na`aman the Arammian, in not receiving at his hands that which he
brought: as the LORD lives, I will run after him, and take somewhat of
him. {5:21} So Gechazi followed after Na`aman. When Na`aman saw one
running after him, he alighted from the chariot to meet him, and said,
Is all well? {5:22} He said, All is well. My master has sent me,
saying, Behold, even now there are come to me from the hill-country of
Efrayim two young men of the sons of the prophets; please give them a
talent of silver, and two changes of clothing. {5:23} Na`aman said, Be
pleased to take two talents. He urged him, and bound two talents of
silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and laid them on two
of his servants; and they bore them before him. {5:24} When he came to
the hill, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the
house; and he let the men go, and they departed. {5:25} But he went
in, and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, Whence come you,
Gechazi? He said, Your servant went no where. {5:26} He said to him,
Didn't my heart go with you, when the man turned from his chariot to
meet you? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and
olive groves and vineyards, and sheep and oxen, and men-servants and
maid-servants? {5:27} The leprosy therefore of Na`aman shall cleave to
you, and to your seed forever. He went out from his presence a leper
[as white] as snow.
{6:1} The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, See now, the place
where we dwell before you is too strait for us. {6:2} Let us go, we
pray you, to the Yarden, and take there every man a beam, and let us
make us a place there, where we may dwell. He answered, Go you. {6:3}
One said, Be pleased, I pray you, to go with your servants. He
answered, I will go. {6:4} So he went with them. When they came to the
Yarden, they cut down wood. {6:5} But as one was felling a beam, the
axe head fell into the water; and he cried, and said, Alas, my master!
for it was borrowed. {6:6} The man of God said, Where fell it? He
shown him the place. He cut down a stick, and cast it in there, and
made the iron to swim. {6:7} He said, Take it up to you. So he put out
his hand, and took it. {6:8} Now the king of Aram was warring against
Yisra'el; and he took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and
such a place shall be my camp. {6:9} The man of God sent to the king
of Yisra'el, saying, Beware that you not pass such a place; for there
the Aram are coming down. {6:10} The king of Yisra'el sent to the
place which the man of God told him and warned him of; and he saved
himself there, not once nor twice. {6:11} The heart of the king of
Aram was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and
said to them, Won't you show me which of us is for the king of
Yisra'el? {6:12} One of his servants said, No, my lord, O king; but
Elisha, the prophet who is in Yisra'el, tells the king of Yisra'el the
words that you speak in your bedchamber. {6:13} He said, Go and see
where he is, that I may send and get him. It was told him, saying,
Behold, he is in Dotan. {6:14} Therefore sent he there horses, and
chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and surrounded the
city. {6:15} When the servant of the man of God was risen early, and
gone forth, behold, a host with horses and chariots was round about
the city. His servant said to him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?
{6:16} He answered, Don't be afraid; for those who are with us are
more than those who are with them. {6:17} Elisha prayed, and said,
LORD, Please open his eyes, that he may see. The LORD opened the eyes
of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of
horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. {6:18} When they came
down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, and said, Please smite this
people with blindness. He struck them with blindness according to the
word of Elisha. {6:19} Elisha said to them, This is not the way,
neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man
whom you seek. He led them to Shomron. {6:20} It happened, when they
were come into Shomron, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these
men, that they may see. The LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and,
behold, they were in the midst of Shomron. {6:21} The king of Yisra'el
said to Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I strike them?
shall I strike them? {6:22} He answered, You shall not strike them:
would you strike those whom you have taken captive with your sword and
with your bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and
drink, and go to their master. {6:23} He prepared great provision for
them; and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they
went to their master. The bands of Aram came no more into
Eretz-Yisra'el. {6:24} It happened after this, that Ben-Hadad king of
Aram gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Shomron. {6:25}
There was a great famine in Shomron: and, behold, they besieged it,
until a donkey's head was sold for eighty [pieces] of silver, and the
fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five [pieces] of silver.
{6:26} As the king of Yisra'el was passing by on the wall, there cried
a woman to him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. {6:27} He said, If the
LORD doesn't help you, whence shall I help you? out of the threshing
floor, or out of the winepress? {6:28} The king said to her, What ails
you? She answered, This woman said to me, Give your son, that we may
eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. {6:29} So we boiled my
son, and ate him: and I said to her on the next day, Give your son,
that we may eat him; and she has hid her son. {6:30} It happened, when
the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes (now
he was passing by on the wall); and the people looked, and, behold, he
had sackcloth within on his flesh. {6:31} Then he said, God do so to
me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shafat shall stand
on him this day. {6:32} But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the
Zakenim were sitting with him; and [the king] sent a man from before
him: but before the messenger came to him, he said to the Zakenim, See
you how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? behold,
when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold the door fast
against him: isn't the sound of his master's feet behind him? {6:33}
While he was yet talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to
him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD; why should I wait
for the LORD any longer?
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Footnotes:
[1] {5:15} earth
[2] {5:17} earth
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