Day 159 of 730

¹Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets 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."

²Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me: what do you have in the house?" She said, "Your handmaid has nothing in the house, except a pot of oil."

³Then he said, "Go, borrow containers from of all your neighbors, even empty containers. Do not borrow just a few.

⁴You shall go in, and shut the door on you and on your sons, and pour out into all those containers; and you shall set aside that which is full."

⁵So she went from him, and shut the door on her and on her sons; they brought the containers to her, and she poured out.

⁶It happened, when the containers were full, that she said to her son, "Bring me another container." He said to her, "There isn't another container." The oil stopped flowing.

⁷Then 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."

⁸It fell on a day, that Elisha passed 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.

⁹She said to her husband, "See now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, that passes by us continually.

¹⁰Please let us make a little room on the wall. Let us set for him there a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp stand. It shall be, when he comes to us, that he shall turn in there."

¹¹One day he came there, and he turned into the room and lay there.

¹²He said to Gehazi his servant, "Call this Shunammite." When he had called her, she stood before him.

¹³He 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."

¹⁴He said, "What then is to be done for her?" Gehazi answered, "Most certainly she has no son, and her husband is old."

¹⁵He said, "Call her." When he had called her, she stood in the door.

¹⁶He said, "At this season, when the time comes around, you will embrace a son." She said, "No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your handmaid."

¹⁷The woman conceived, and bore a son at that season, when the time came around, as Elisha had said to her.

¹⁸When the child was grown, it happened one day that he went out to his father to the reapers.

¹⁹He said to his father, "My head! My head!" He said to his servant, "Carry him to his mother."

²⁰When he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon, and then died.

²¹She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door on him, and went out.

²²She 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."

²³He said, "Why would you want go to him today? It is neither new moon nor Sabbath." She said, "It's alright."

²⁴Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, "Drive, and go forward! Do not slow down for me, unless I ask you to."

²⁵So 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, there is the Shunammite.

²⁶Please 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."

²⁷When 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."

²⁸Then she said, "Did I desire a son of my lord? Did I not say, Do not deceive me?"

²⁹Then 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, do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do not answer him again. Then lay my staff on the face of the child."

³⁰The mother of the child said, "As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." He arose, and followed her.

³¹Gehazi 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."

³²When Elisha had come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and lay on his bed.

³³He went in therefore, and shut the door on them both, and prayed to the Lord.

³⁴He 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 flesh of the child grew warm.

³⁵Then he returned, and walked in the house once back and forth; and went up, and stretched himself on him. Then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

³⁶He called Gehazi, and said, "Call this Shunammite!" So he called her. When she had come in to him, he said, "Take up your son."

³⁷Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; and she took up her son, and went out.

³⁸Elisha 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, "Set on the great pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets."

³⁹One 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 did not recognize them.

⁴⁰So 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.

⁴¹But 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.

⁴²A man from Baal Shalishah came, 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."

⁴³His 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 will eat, and will have some left over.'"

⁴⁴So he set it before them, and they ate, and left some of it, according to the word of the Lord.

¹Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

²The 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.

³She said to her mistress, "I wish that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would heal him of his leprosy."

⁴Someone went in, and told his lord, saying, "The maiden who is from the land of Israel said this."

⁵The 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.

⁶He brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, "Now when this letter has come to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy."

⁷It 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 sends to me to heal a man of his leprosy? But please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel against me."

⁸It 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."

⁹So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.

¹⁰Elisha 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."

¹¹But 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 the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leper.'

¹²Aren't Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them, and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage.

¹³His servants came near, and spoke to him, and said, "My father, if the prophet had asked you do some great thing, wouldn't you have done it? How much rather then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean?'"

¹⁴Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

¹⁵He 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 gift from your servant."

¹⁶But he said, "As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none." He urged him to take it; but he refused.

¹⁷Naaman said, "If not, then, please let two mules' burden of earth be given to your servant; for your servant will from now on offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice to other gods, but to the Lord.

¹⁸In this thing may 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, may the Lord pardon your servant in this thing."

¹⁹He said to him, "Go in peace." So he departed from him a little way.

²⁰But 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 the Lord lives, I will run after him, and take something from him."

²¹So Gehazi followed after Naaman. When Naaman saw one running after him, he came down from the chariot to meet him, and said, "Is all well?"

²²He said, "All is well. My master has sent me, saying, 'Behold, even now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing.'"

²³Naaman 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 carried them before him.

²⁴When he came to the hill, he took them from their hand, and stored them in the house. Then he let the men go, and they departed.

²⁵But he went in, and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, "Where did you come from, Gehazi?" He said, "Your servant went nowhere."

²⁶He said to him, "Did not 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 cattle, and male servants and female servants?

²⁷Therefore the leprosy of Naaman will cling to you and to your seed forever." He went out from his presence a leper, as white as snow.

¹ALEPH I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. I will tell of all your marvelous works.

²I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

³When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish in your presence.

⁴For you have maintained my just cause. You sit on the throne judging righteously.

⁵You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever.

⁶The enemy is overtaken by endless ruin. The very memory of the cities which you have overthrown has perished.

⁷But the Lord reigns forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment.

⁸He will judge the world in righteousness. He will administer judgment to the peoples in uprightness.

⁹The Lord will also be a high tower for the oppressed; a high tower in times of trouble.

¹⁰Those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

¹¹Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion, and declare among the people what he has done.

¹²For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn't forget the cry of the afflicted.

¹³Have mercy on me, Lord. See my affliction by those who hate me, and lift me up from the gates of death;

¹⁴that I may show forth all your praise. In the gates of the daughter of Zion, I will rejoice in your salvation.

¹⁵The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken.

¹⁶The Lord has made himself known. He has executed judgment. The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands. Meditation. Selah.

¹⁷The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God.

¹⁸For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever.

¹⁹Arise, Lord! Do not let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in your sight.

²⁰Put them in fear, Lord. Let the nations know that they are only men. Selah.

¹Listen, sons, to a father's instruction. Pay attention and know understanding;

²for I give you sound learning. Do not forsake my law.

³For I was a son to my father, tender and an only child in the sight of my mother.

⁴He taught me, and said to me: "Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commandments, and live.

⁵Get wisdom. Get understanding. Do not forget, neither swerve from the words of my mouth.

⁶Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you. Love her, and she will keep you.

⁷Wisdom is supreme. Get wisdom. Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding.

⁸Esteem her, and she will exalt you. She will bring you to honor, when you embrace her.

⁹She will give to your head a garland of grace. She will deliver a crown of splendor to you."

¹⁰Listen, my son, and receive my sayings. The years of your life will be many.

¹¹I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you in straight paths.

¹²When you go, your steps will not be hampered. When you run, you will not stumble.

¹³Take firm hold of instruction. Do not let her go. Keep her, for she is your life.

¹⁴Do not enter into the path of the wicked. Do not walk in the way of evil men.

¹⁵Avoid it, and do not pass by it. Turn from it, and pass on.

¹⁶For they do not sleep, unless they do evil. Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall.

¹⁷For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.

¹⁸But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light, that shines more and more until the perfect day.

¹⁹The way of the wicked is like darkness. They do not know what they stumble over.

²⁰My son, attend to my words. Turn your ear to my sayings.

²¹Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart.

²²For they are life to those who find them, and health to their whole body.

²³Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.

²⁴Put away from yourself a perverse mouth. Put corrupt lips far from you.

²⁵Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you.

²⁶Make the path of your feet level. Let all of your ways be established.

²⁷Do not turn to the right hand nor to the left. Remove your foot from evil.