2 Kings 4:1–7; 6:1–7
Elisha traveled around Israel visiting the people. One day a woman came to him. “My husband’s dead,” she said. “You know that he feared the Lord. But he owed money when he died. They want to take my children as slaves in payment.”
“Do you have anything to pay them?” Elisha asked.
“All I have is a jar of oil.”
“Go and borrow as many empty jars as you can. Fill the jars with oil.”
The neighbors brought jars, and she kept pouring oil. Every jar she could find was filled.
“Go sell the oil and pay your debts,” the prophet said. “You and your children live on the rest.”
Men were cutting logs by the Jordan River. While one worked, his axehead fell into the water. He cried, “Master, this is a borrowed axe!” In those days iron was hard to get. Elisha threw a stick in the water. The axehead floated to the surface like it was wood.
Such works of power showed Israel that Elisha was God’s prophet.
Questions: How did the woman pay the money that she owed? What did Elisha’s works of power show Israel?