Elisha and the Widow's Oil

¹Now the wife of one of the esons of the prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, fbut the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” ²And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” ³Then he said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. ⁴Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside.” ⁵So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. ⁶When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another.” Then the oil stopped flowing. ⁷She came and told the gman of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.”

Elisha and the Shunammite Woman

⁸One day Elisha went on to hShunem, where a iwealthy woman lived, who urged him to eat some food. So whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food. ⁹And she said to her husband, “Behold now, I know that this is a holy gman of God who is continually passing our way. ¹⁰Let us make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there.”

¹¹One day he came there, and he turned into the chamber and rested there. ¹²And he said to jGehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” When he had called her, she stood before him. ¹³And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘See, you have taken all this trouble for us; what is to be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to kthe commander of the army?’” She answered, “I dwell among my own people.” ¹⁴And he said, “What then is to be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.” ¹⁵He said, “Call her.” And when he had called her, she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶And he said, “At this season, labout this time next year, you shall embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord, gO man of God; mdo not lie to your servant.” ¹⁷But the woman conceived, and she bore a son about that time lthe following spring, as Elisha had said to her.

Elisha Raises the Shunammite's Son

¹⁸When the child had grown, he went out one day to his father among the reapers. ¹⁹And he said to his father, “Oh, nmy head, my head!” The father said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰And when he had lifted him and brought him to his mother, the child sat on her lap till noon, and then he died. ²¹And she went up oand laid him on the bed of the gman of God and shut the door behind him and went out. ²²Then she called to her husband and said, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may quickly go to gthe man of God and come back again.” ²³And he said, “Why will you go to him today? It is neither pnew moon nor Sabbath.” She said, “All is well.” ²⁴Then she saddled the donkey, and she said to her servant, “Urge the animal on; do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.” ²⁵So she set out and came to the man of God qat Mount Carmel.

When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, there is the Shunammite. ²⁶Run at once to meet her and say to her, ‘Is all well with you? Is all well with your husband? Is all well with the child?’” And she answered, “All is well.” ²⁷And when she came rto the mountain to the man of God, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came to push her away. But the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for she is in bitter distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.” ²⁸Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? sDid I not say, ‘Do not deceive me?’” ²⁹He said to Gehazi, t“Tie up your garment and utake my staff in your hand and go. If you meet anyone, vdo not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not reply. And ulay my staff on the face of the child.” ³⁰Then the mother of the child said, w“As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her. ³¹Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. Therefore he returned to meet him and told him, “The child xhas not awakened.”

³²When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. ³³So he went in and yshut the door behind the two of them zand prayed to the Lord. ³⁴Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as ahe stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm. ³⁵Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house, and went up aand stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. ³⁶Then he summoned Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her. And when she came to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” ³⁷She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground. bThen she picked up her son and went out.

Elisha Purifies the Deadly Stew

³⁸And Elisha came again to cGilgal when dthere was a famine in the land. And as ethe sons of the prophets fwere sitting before him, he said to his servant, g“Set on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.” ³⁹One of them went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were. ⁴⁰And they poured out some for the men to eat. But while they were eating of the stew, they cried out, “O man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it. ⁴¹He said, “Then bring flour.” hAnd he threw it into the pot and said, “Pour some out for the men, that they may eat.” And there was no harm in the pot.

⁴²A man came from iBaal-shalishah, jbringing the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Elisha said, k“Give to the men, that they may eat.” ⁴³But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred men?” So he repeated, “Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’” ⁴⁴So he set it before them. And they ate and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.

Greeting

¹Paul, aan apostle of Christ Jesus bby command of cGod our Savior and of Christ Jesus dour hope,

²To Timothy, emy true child in the faith:

fGrace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Warning Against False Teachers

³gAs I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not hto teach any different doctrine, ⁴nor ito devote themselves to myths and endless jgenealogies, which promote kspeculations rather than the stewardship1 from God that is by faith. ⁵The aim of our charge is love lthat issues from a pure heart and ma good conscience and na sincere faith. ⁶Certain persons, by oswerving from these, have wandered away into pvain discussion, ⁷desiring to be teachers of the law, qwithout understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

⁸Now we know that rthe law is good, if one uses it lawfully, ⁹understanding this, that the slaw is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, ¹⁰the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers,2 liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to tsound3 doctrine, ¹¹in accordance with uthe gospel of the glory of vthe blessed God wwith which I have been entrusted.

Christ Jesus Came to Save Sinners

¹²I thank him xwho has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, yappointing me to his service, ¹³though formerly I was a blasphemer, zpersecutor, and insolent opponent. But aI received mercy bbecause I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, ¹⁴and cthe grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the dfaith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵The saying is etrustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus fcame into the world to save sinners, gof whom I am the foremost. ¹⁶But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. ¹⁷To hthe King of the ages, iimmortal, jinvisible, kthe only God, lbe honor and glory forever and ever.4 Amen.

¹⁸This charge mI entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with nthe prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may owage the good warfare, ¹⁹pholding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have qmade shipwreck of their faith, ²⁰among whom are rHymenaeus and sAlexander, whom I thave handed over to Satan that they may learn not to ublaspheme.

Daniel's Vision of the Ram and the Goat

¹In the third year of the reign of lKing Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, Daniel, mafter that which appeared to me mat the first. ²And I saw in the vision; and when I saw, I was in nSusa the citadel, which is in the province of oElam. And pI saw in the vision, pand I was at the qUlai canal. ³I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, ra ram standing on the bank of the canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. ⁴I saw sthe ram charging westward and northward and southward. No tbeast ucould stand before him, vand there was no one who could rescue from his power. wHe did as he pleased and xbecame great.

⁵As I was considering, behold, a ymale goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground. And the goat had ya conspicuous horn between his eyes. ⁶He came to zthe ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank of the canal, aand he ran at him in his powerful wrath. ⁷I saw him come close to the ram, band he was enraged against him and struck the ram and broke his two horns. cAnd the ram had no power to stand before him, but he dcast him down to the ground and trampled on him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power. ⁸Then ythe goat ebecame exceedingly great, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four fconspicuous horns toward fthe four winds of heaven.

⁹Out of one of them came ga little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward hthe south, toward the east, and toward ithe glorious land. ¹⁰jIt grew great, keven to the host of heaven. And some of the host kand some1 of lthe stars it threw down to the ground and mtrampled on them. ¹¹nIt became great, even as great as othe Prince of the host. pAnd the regular burnt offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. ¹²And a host will be given over to it together with the regular burnt offering because of transgression,2 and it will throw truth to the ground, and qit will act and prosper. ¹³Then I heard ra holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who spoke, s“For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, tthe transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot?” ¹⁴And he said to me,3 “For 2,300 uevenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.”

The Interpretation of the Vision

¹⁵When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I vsought to understand it. And behold, there stood before me one having wthe appearance of a man. ¹⁶xAnd I heard a man's voice xbetween the banks of the yUlai, and it called, z“Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” ¹⁷So he came near where I stood. And when he came, aI was frightened band fell on my face. But he said to me, “Understand, cO son of man, that the vision is for dthe time of the end.”

¹⁸And when he had spoken to me, eI fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But fhe touched me and made me stand up. ¹⁹He said, “Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of gthe indignation, for it refers to hthe appointed time of the end. ²⁰As for ithe ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of jMedia and Persia. ²¹And kthe goat4 is the king of Greece. And kthe great horn between his eyes is lthe first king. ²²mAs for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his5 nation, nbut not with his power. ²³And at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise. ²⁴His power shall be great—obut not by his own power; and he shall cause fearful destruction pand shall succeed in what he does, qand destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. ²⁵rBy his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind she shall become great. tWithout warning he shall destroy many. And he sshall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken—but uby no human hand. ²⁶The vision of vthe evenings and the mornings that has been told wis true, but xseal up the vision, yfor it refers to many days from now.”

²⁷And zI, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king's business, but I was appalled by the vision aand did not understand it.

I Love the Lord

¹I ylove the Lord, because he has zheard

my voice and my pleas for mercy.

²Because he ainclined his ear to me,

therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

³bThe snares of death encompassed me;

the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;

I suffered distress and anguish.

⁴Then cI called on the name of the Lord:

“O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”

⁵dGracious is the Lord, and erighteous;

our God is fmerciful.

⁶The Lord preserves gthe simple;

when hI was brought low, he saved me.

⁷Return, O my soul, to your irest;

for the Lord has jdealt bountifully with you.

⁸For kyou have delivered my soul from death,

my eyes from tears,

my feet from stumbling;

⁹I will walk before the Lord

lin the land of the living.

¹⁰mI believed, neven when1 I spoke:

“I am greatly afflicted”;

¹¹oI said in my alarm,

p“All mankind are liars.”

¹²What shall I qrender to the Lord

for all his benefits to me?

¹³I will lift up rthe cup of salvation

and scall on the name of the Lord,

¹⁴I will tpay my vows to the Lord

in the presence of all his people.

¹⁵uPrecious in the sight of the Lord

is the death of his vsaints.

¹⁶O Lord, I am your wservant;

I am your servant, xthe son of your maidservant.

You have yloosed my bonds.

¹⁷I will zoffer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving

and scall on the name of the Lord.

¹⁸I will tpay my vows to the Lord

in the presence of all his people,

¹⁹in athe courts of the house of the Lord,

in your midst, O Jerusalem.

bPraise the Lord!