Elisha Visits a family

2 Kings 4:8-37

     When  the prophet Elijah was taken to heaven in the whirlwind, Elisha became God's prophet in Israel. he traveled through the land and showed God's power.

     One day Elisha went to a town called Shunem. A very rich woman who lived there invited him to dinner. After this, Elisha often ate with this family when he was in Shunem. Soon the woman and her husband made a room on their rooftop for Elisha. They put a bed, a chair, a table, and a lamp in the room. Whenever Elisha was going through that part of the land, he stayed with these Shunammites in his own room.

     One day, when he was visiting them, he wondered what could be done for the woman who had been so kind to him. Elisha's servant said, "She has no children, and she wants a son."

     "This time next year, you will be carrying a baby boy in your arms," Elisha told the woman.

     "Oh, that can't be! Please, as a man of God, don't tell me lies," said the woman. But what Elisha said was true. God gave her a son the next year. And the child grew. One day he ran to his father in the fields. "My head! My head!" he cried. His father had him taken inside, where he sat in his mother's lap for a few hours. The he died. After laying him on Elisha's bed, the mother immediately got on a donkey and went to find Elisha.

     Elisha was in his home on Mount Carmel when he looked up and saw the woman riding up. "It is the Shunammite woman," he said to his servant.

     She came in, very upset. She could hardly talk. She took hold of Elisha's feet and said, "I didn't tell you to ask God for a son. I told you not to tell me lies!"

     Elisha saw her pain and went at once to her house. He saw the little boy lying dead on the bed and went in and shut the door. First Elisha prayed to the Lord. Then he got up and lay down on top of the child. He put his mouth on the boy's mouth, his eyes on the boy's eyes, and his hands on the boy's hands.

     As he lay there, the boy began to be warm again. Elisha got up and walked around for a moment. Then he stretched out on the child again. The boy sneezed seven times and then opened his eyes.

     Elisha opened the door and told his servant to call the woman. "Come, pick up your little boy," he said when she came in. She looked and then bowed down to the floor in front of Elisha. Then she carried her little boy out, because he was well.