Elisha again helps the rich woman of Shunem
1 Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had made alive again, ‘Go away from here. The Lord says that there will be a famine in this country for seven years. So you and your family should go to live somewhere else during that time.’ 2 The woman had done what the man of God had told her to do. She and her family went to live in the country of the Philistines for seven years. 3 After seven years, she came back from there. She went to the king to ask for her house and her land.
8:2Philistines came from a country near Israel called Philistia. They were a nation of people who were powerful enemies of Israel. They lived beside the sea on the west side of Israel.
8:3Someone else had used the woman's land while she was away.
4 The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. The king said to Gehazi, ‘Tell me about all the great things that Elisha has done.’ 5 So Gehazi was telling the king that Elisha had made dead people alive again.
While Gehazi was saying this, the woman from Shunem came in to ask the king for her house and her fields. It was her son that Elisha had made alive again. Gehazi said, ‘My master the king, this is the woman! And this is her son that Elisha made alive again!’
6 The king asked the woman about it. She told him what had happened. Then the king commanded one of his officers to take care of her. The king said to him, ‘This woman must receive back everything that belongs to her. She must also receive the value of all the crops that have grown in her fields since the day that she went away.’
