1   And a certayne woman of the wiues of the prophetes cried to Eliseus, saying: Thy seruant my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy seruant was one that feared God, & behold the creditour is come to take away my two sonnes to serue him. ^note

2   To whom Eliseus sayd: What wilt thou that I doe for thee? Tel me, what hast thou in thy house? But she answered: I thy handmaid haue nothing in my house, but a litle oyle, to anoynt me withal.

3   To whom he sayd: Goe, borrow of al thy neighbours emptie vessels not a few.

4   And goe in, and shut thy doore, when thou art within, thou and thy sonnes: and powre therof into al these vessels: and when they shal be ful, thou shalt take them away.

5   The woman therfore went, and shut the doore vpon her, and vpon her sonnes: they brought her vessels, and she powred in.

6   And when the vessels were ful, she sayd to her sonne: Bring me yet a vessel. And he answered: I haue none. And the oile stood.

7   And she came, and told the man of God. And he sayde, Goe, sel the oyle, and pay thy creditour: and thou and thy sonnes liue of the rest:

8   And there came a certayne day, and Eliseus passed by Sunam: and there was there a great woman, which held him to eate bread: and when he passed often that way, he turned in to her to eate bread.

9   Who

Eliseus. sayd to her husband: I perceiue that this is a holie man of God, which passeth by vs often.

10   Let vs therfore make him a litle chamber, and sette him a litle bed in it, and a table, and a stoole, and a candlesticke, that when he cometh to vs he may tarie there.

11   There came therfore a certayne day, and coming he turned in to the chamber, and rested there.

12   And he sayd to Giezi his seruant: Call this Sunamite. Who when he had called her, and she stoode before him,

13   he sayd to his seruant: Speake to her: Behold thou hast diligently ministred to vs in al thinges, what wilt thou that I doe for thee? hast thou any busines, and wilt thou that I speake to the king, or the general of the warrefare? Who answered: I dwel in the middes of myne owne people.

14   And he sayd: What wil she then that I doe for her? And Giezi sayd: Aske not: for she hath no sonne, and her husband is old.

15   He therfore c&obar;manded him to cal her: who when she was called, and stoode before the doore,

16   he sayd to her: At this tyme, this self same houre, if life accompanie, thou shalt haue a sonne in thy wombe. But she answered: Doe not I besech thee my lord, man of God, doe not lie to thy handmayd.

17   And the woman conceiued, and brought forth a sonne in that time, and in the self same houre, that Eliseus had sayd.

18   And the childe grewe. And vpon a cerraine day, when going forth he went to his father, vnto the reapers,

19   he sayd to his father: My head aketh, my head aketh. But he said to his seruant, take him, and bring him to his mother,

20   who when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, she sette him vpon her knees vntil noone, and he dyed.

21   And she went vp, and laid him vpon the bed of the man of God, and shut the doore: and going forth

22   called her husband, and sayd: Send with me, I besech thee, one of the seruantes, and an asse, that I may runne to the man of God, and returne.

23   Who sayd to her: For what cause doest thou goe to him? The Calendes be not to day, nor the Sabbath. Who answered: I wil goe.

24   And she sadled the asse, and commanded her seruant: driue, and make hast, make no stay in going. And doe that which I command thee.

25   She therfore went forward, and came to the man of God into mount Carmel: and when the man of God saw her ouer against him, he said to Giezi his seruant: Behold that Sunamite. ^note

26   Goe therfore to meete her, and say to her: Is al wel about thee, and about thy husband,

Eliseus. and about thy sonne? Who answered: Wel.

27   And when she was come to the man of God into the mount, she caught his feet: and Giezi came to remoue her. And the man of God said: Let her alone, for her soule is in anguish, and our Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.

28   Who said to him: Did I aske a sonne of my Lord? Did I not say to thee: Mocke me not?

29   And he said to Giezi: Girde thy loynes, and take my staffe in thy hand, & goe. If a man meete thee, salute him not: and if any man salute thee, answer him not: and thou shalt put my staffe vpon the face of the childe.

30   Moreouer the mother of the childe said: Our Lord liueth, and thy soul liueth, I wil not leaue thee. He arose therfore, and folowed her.

31   But Giezi was gone before them, and had put the staffe vpon the face of the childe, & there was not voice, nor sense: and he returned to meete him, and told him, saying: ^note The childe is not risen.

32   Eliseus therfore went into the house, and behold the childe lay dead on his bed:

33   and going in he shut the doore vpon him, & vpon the childe & prayed to our Lord.

34   And he went vp, and lay vpon the childe: and he put his mouth vpon his mouth, & his eies vpon his eies & his handes vpon his handes: and he bowed him self ouer him, and the childes flesh was warmed.

35   But he returning, walked vp and downe in the house, once hither & thither: & he went vp, and lay vpon him: and the childe gaped seuen tymes, and opened his eies.

36   And he called Gierzi, & said to him: Call this Sunamite. Who being called, went in vnto him: Who said: Take thy sonne.

37   She came, and fel at his feete, and adored vpon the ground: and tooke her sonne, and went out,

38   and Eliseus returned into Galgal. And there was a famine in the land, and the children of the prophetes dwelt before him; and he sayd to one of his seruantes: Sette on a greate potte, and seeth broth for the children of the prophetes.

39   And one went out into the field to gather wilde herbes: and he found as it were a wilde vine, and gathered of it the colocynthides of the field, and filled his mantel, and returning cut it into the potte of broth, for he knew not what it was.

40   They therfore powred it to their felowes, to eate: and when they had tasted of the broth, they cried, saying: Death is in the potte, man of God. And they could not eate.

41   But he sayd: Bring meale, and when they had brought it, he cast it into the potte, and said: powere in for the multitude, that they may eate. And

Of Israel Ioram. Eliseus. there was no more anie bitternesse in the potte.

42   And a certaine man came from Baalsalisa bringing to the man of God loaues of the first fruites, twentie barley loaues, and new wheate in his scrippe. But he said: Geue to the people, that they may eate.

43   And his seruant answered him: How much is this, that I should sette it before an hundred men? Agayne he said: Geue to the people, that they may eate: for thus saith our Lord: They shal eate, and there shal be leaft.

44   He therfore sette it before them: who did eate, and there was leaft according to the word of our Lord.

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