The Second Book of Kings, 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 Yahweh: 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 Gehazi 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 army?
She answered, I dwell among my own people. {4:14} He said, What then
is to be done for her? Gehazi answered, Most certainly 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 Sabbath. 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 Carmel. It happened, when
the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi 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. Gehazi came
near to thrust her away; but the man of God said, Let her alone: for
her soul is vexed within her; and Yahweh 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 Gehazi, Gird
up your waist, 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 Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I
will not leave you. He arose, and followed her. {4:31} Gehazi 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 Yahweh. {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
Gehazi, 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 Baal 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 Yahweh, 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 Yahweh.
{5:1} Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a
great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Yahweh had
given victory to Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, [but he
was] a leper. {5:2} The Syrians had gone out in bands, and had brought
away captive out of the land of Israel a little maiden; and she waited
on Naaman's wife. {5:3} She said to her mistress, Would that my lord
were with the prophet who is in Samaria! 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 the land of Israel. {5:5} The king of
Syria said, Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. 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 Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come to
you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may
recover him of his leprosy. {5:7} It happened, when the king of Israel
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 Israel 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 Israel. {5:9} So Naaman
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 Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall come again to
you, and you shall be clean. {5:11} But Naaman 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 Yahweh his God, and wave his hand over
the place, and recover the leper. {5:12} Aren't Abanah and Pharpar,
the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? 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
Jordan, 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 earth, but in Israel: now therefore, please take a present
from your servant. {5:16} But he said, As Yahweh lives, before whom I
stand, I will receive none. He urged him to take it; but he refused.
{5:17} Naaman said, If not, yet, please let there be given to your
servant two mules' burden of earth; for your servant will henceforth
offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice to other gods, but to
Yahweh. {5:18} In this thing Yahweh 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, Yahweh pardon your servant in this thing. {5:19}
He said to him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.
{5:20} But Gehazi the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold,
my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not receiving at his
hands that which he brought: as Yahweh lives, I will run after him,
and take somewhat of him. {5:21} So Gehazi followed after Naaman. When
Naaman 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 Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets; please
give them a talent of silver, and two changes of clothing. {5:23}
Naaman 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, Gehazi? 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 male servants and female servants? {5:27} The leprosy
therefore of Naaman 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 Jordan, 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
Jordan, 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 asked, "Where did it fall?"
He showed him the place. He cut down a stick, threw it in there, and
made the iron float. {6:7} He said, "Take it." So he put out his hand
and took it.
{6:8} Now the king of Syria was warring against Israel; 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 Israel, saying,
Beware that you not pass such a place; for there the Syrians are
coming down. {6:10} The king of Israel 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 Syria 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 Israel? {6:12} One of
his servants said, No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is
in Israel, tells the king of Israel 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 Dothan. {6:14}
Therefore sent he there horses, and chariots, and a great army: 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, an army
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, Yahweh, Please open his eyes,
that he may see. Yahweh 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
Yahweh, 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
Samaria. {6:20} It happened, when they were come into Samaria, that
Elisha said, Yahweh, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.
Yahweh opened their eyes, and they saw; and behold, they were in the
midst of Samaria. {6:21} The king of Israel 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 Syria came no more into the land of Israel. {6:24} It
happened after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his
army, and went up, and besieged Samaria. {6:25} There was a great
famine in Samaria: 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
Israel was passing by on the wall, there cried a woman to him, saying,
Help, my lord, O king. {6:27} He said, If Yahweh 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 Shaphat shall stand on him this day.
{6:32} But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were
sitting with him; and [the king] sent a man from before him: but
before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, 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 Yahweh; why should I wait for Yahweh any
longer?
___
This Bible reading mailing list and web site are paid for by donations
marked "World English Bible project" and payable to:
Rainbow Missions
PO BOX 275
MESA CO 81643-0275
To help support the senior editor, please see http://eBible.org/mpj/
To cancel your free email subscription, please send
email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
unsubscribe bible
in the body of the message OR go to http://ebible.org/subscribe.htm
