Knox Bible

1

There was a woman once that appealed to Eliseus for aid; her husband had been among the disciples of the prophets. Master, she said, thou knewest my husband for a faithful servant of thine, and one that feared the Lord. Now he is dead, and here is a creditor of mine that will come and take away my two sons, to be his bondsmen.

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What wouldst thou have me do for thee? asked Eliseus. How much hast thou by thee? My lord, she answered, I have nothing left in my house at all but a drop of oil to anoint myself with.

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Go then, said he, and borrow empty jars from all thy neighbours, and do not stint thyself.

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Then go home, and lock the door on thyself and thy two sons within; fill all these jars with the oil, and set them aside when they are full.

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So the woman went, and locked the door on herself and her two sons, and they began holding out the jars for her, while she filled them.

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When she had filled them, and, asking one of her sons for a fresh jar, was told that he had no more, the oil gave out.

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So she came and told her story to the servant of God, and he said, Go and sell the oil, and pay thy creditor; what is left shall provide thee and thy sons with a living.

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At another time, Eliseus chanced to be passing through Sunam, and here there was a woman of rank that bade him to a meal, and would take no denial. He must needs go that way often, and ever this woman entertained him,

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till at last she said to her husband, I find him to be a servant of God, and a holy one, this man that passes our way so often.

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It would be well if we kept a little room for his use, with bed and table and chair and lamp-stand in it, so that he may pass his time there whenever he visits us.

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And so, one day, when he had turned in to this room of his, to rest there,

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he bade his servant Giezi fetch the woman of Sunam; and she, thus summoned, stood awaiting his audience.✻

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And Eliseus sent her, through his servant, this message, In all things thou hast bestowed thy constant care on us; what wouldst thou have me do for thee in return? Is there any business of thine, over which thou wouldst have me say a word for thee to the king, or to the commander of his army? And her answer was, Nay, my place is with my own folk.

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And now, as he wondered what he could do for her, Giezi told him, No need to ask; she has no son, and her husband is an old man.

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So Eliseus would have her brought to him, and as she stood there in the doorway,

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When this time of year comes round again, he told her, at this very hour, live thou till then,✻ thou shalt conceive a son. Nay, my lord, she said, wouldst thou, a prophet, trifle thus with thy handmaid?

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But at that very season of the year, and at the very time Eliseus had foretold, she conceived, and bore a son.

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The child grew to boyhood, and one day, when he had gone out to be with his father where they were reaping the corn,

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he told his father, My head aches, my head aches sorely. His father bade one of the servants carry him back to his mother;

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carry him back he did, and brought him to his mother, and she nursed him on her lap till noon came, but at noon he died.

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Thereupon she carried him up and laid him on the prophet’s own bed, and shut the door on him; then went out

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and called her husband, and asked to have one of the servants with her, and an ass; she must go and see the prophet with all speed, and with all speed return.

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Why, said he, what means this journey of thine? This is no feast of the new moon, no sabbath day. But she answered, Go I must.

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Then she saddled the ass, and bade the servant lead on, and that in haste; let him lose no time over the journey, and wait ever on her bidding.

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So out she went, and found the servant of God on mount Carmel. And he, when he saw her approaching, said to his servant Giezi, That is the woman from Sunam;

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go to meet her, and ask her if all is well with her, all well, too, with her husband and her son. All is well, she said;

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but when she reached the servant of God, there on the mountain, she clasped him by the knees. Giezi would have pulled her away, but the servant of God said, Let her alone; here is great anguish of spirit, and I none the wiser; the Lord told me nothing of it.

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Then she said, My lord, did I not ask to have a son, imploring thee not to cheat me of my hopes?

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Whereupon he said to Giezi, Gird thyself, and take this staff of mine with thee; go at once, greeting none and returning no greeting by the way, till thou reachest the boy; and lay down my staff on his face.

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As thou livest, the woman said, and servest a living Lord, I will not part from thee. So he rose up and went with her.

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Giezi had gone on before him, and put down the staff on the boy’s face; but no sound came, no sign of life, so he went back to meet his master with the news, The boy did not stir.

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Then Eliseus went into the house, where the boy lay dead in his bed;

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and there he shut himself in with the boy, and prayed to the Lord.

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So, rising from his prayer, he laid himself down on the dead body, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands, bending down close, till the boy’s flesh grew warm.

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Then he went away, and walked to the end of the house and back, and now when he mounted the bed and lay down, the boy yawned seven times, and opened his eyes.

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Then Eliseus sent Giezi to fetch the woman of Sunam, and when she answered the summons, bade her take her son into her arms.

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So she came up, and fell at his feet, bowing down to the earth; then she took up her son and went out,

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and Eliseus made his way to Galgal.

There was once a famine in the country, at a time when Eliseus had some of the young prophets staying with him. And he bade one of his servants put on the greatest pot they had, and cook broth for these disciples of his.

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The man who had gone out afield to gather wild herbs for them found a creeping plant in the woods, from which he filled his lap with wild gourds; and these, when he came home, he shredded into the pot of broth, never enquiring what they were.

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When the time came for his guests to have their meal, the broth was poured out; but no sooner had they tasted it than they cried out, Death it were, lord prophet, to taste this broth of thine; drink it they might not.

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Thereupon he would have some flour brought him; brought it was, and when he threw it into the pot and had broth poured out for the company, all bitterness had left it.

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Once, too, a man came from Baal-Salisa, bringing with him twenty barley loaves, his first-fruit offering, and nothing besides except some fresh grain in his wallet. Eliseus would have a meal set before the company,

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and when his servant asked how this would suffice for a hundred mouths, he said again, Set it before the company for their meal; they shall eat, the Lord says, and leave some over.

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And when he set it before them, eat they did and leave they did; so the Lord’s promise was fulfilled.