The Widow’s Oil
The widow brings her crisis to Elisha, and he answers by directing her to the one small thing she still has and to a room full of borrowed emptiness waiting to be filled.
N1ow the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And now his creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves!” 2“How can I help you?” asked Elisha. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” 3“Go,” said Elisha, “borrow empty jars from all your neighbors. Do not gather just a few. 4Then go inside, shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour oil into all these jars, setting the full ones aside.”
The widow and her sons follow Elisha’s word, and the oil only stops when there are no more jars. Elisha then tells her to sell it, clear the debt, and live on what remains.
5So she left him, and after she had shut the door behind her and her sons, they kept bringing jars to her, and she kept pouring. 6When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another.” 7She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt. Then you and your sons can live on the remainder.”