18 And the child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the harvesters.

19“My head! My head!” he complained to his father.

So his father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.”

20 After the servant had picked him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. 21And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God. Then she shut the door and went out.

22 And the woman called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may go quickly to the man of God and return.”

23“Why would you go to him today?” he replied. “It is not a New Moon or a Sabbath.”

“Everything is all right,” she said.

24 Then she saddled the donkey and told her servant, “Drive onward; do not slow the pace for me unless I tell you.” 25So she set out and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel.

When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, there is the Shunammite woman. 26Please run out now to meet her and ask, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’”

And she answered, “Everything is all right.”

27 When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is in deep distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.”

28 Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not deceive me?’”

29 So Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tie up your garment, take my staff in your hand, and go! If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer him. Then lay my staff on the boy’s face.”

30 And the mother of the boy said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.

31 Gehazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So he went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”

32 When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his bed. 33So he went in, closed the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord.

34 Then Elisha got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eye to eye, and hand to hand. As he stretched himself out over him, the boy’s body became warm. 35Elisha turned away and paced back and forth across the room. Then he got on the bed and stretched himself out over the boy again, and the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.

36 Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” So he called her and she came.

Then Elisha said, “Pick up your son.”

37 She came in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out.

38 When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the sons of the prophets were sitting at his feet, he said to his attendant, “Put on the large pot and boil some stew for the sons of the prophets.”

39 One of them went out to the field to gather herbs, and he found a wild vine from which he gathered as many wild gourds as his garment could hold. Then he came back and cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were.

40 And they poured it out for the men to eat, but when they tasted the stew they cried out, “There is death in the pot, O man of God!” And they could not eat it.

41 Then Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Pour it out for the people to eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

42 Now a man from Baal-shalishah came to the man of God with a sack of twenty loaves of barley bread from the first ripe grain.

“Give it to the people to eat,” said Elisha.

43 But his servant asked, “How am I to set twenty loaves before a hundred men?”

“Give it to the people to eat,” said Elisha, “for this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’”

44 So he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.

1 Now Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man in his master’s sight and highly regarded, for through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. And he was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

2 At this time the Arameans had gone out in bands and had taken a young girl from the land of Israel, and she was serving Naaman’s wife. 3She said to her mistress, “If only my master would go to the prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him of his leprosy.”

4 And Naaman went and told his master what the girl from the land of Israel had said.

5“Go now,” said the king of Aram, “and I will send you with a letter to the king of Israel.”

So Naaman departed, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of clothing.

6 And the letter that he took to the king of Israel stated: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman, so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and asked, “Am I God, killing and giving life, that this man expects me to cure a leper? Surely you can see that he is seeking a quarrel with me!”

8 Now when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king: “Why have you torn your clothes? Please let the man come to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house.

10 Then Elisha sent him a messenger, who said, “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be clean.”

11 But Naaman went away angry, saying, “I thought that he would surely come out, stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the spot to cure my leprosy. 12Are not the Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not have washed in them and been cleansed?” So he turned and went away in a rage.

13 Naaman’s servants, however, approached him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’?”

14 So Naaman went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored and became like that of a little child, and he was clean.

15 Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God, stood before him, and declared, “Now I know for sure that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”

16 But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will not accept it.” And although Naaman urged him to accept it, he refused.

17“If you will not,” said Naaman, “please let me, your servant, be given as much soil as a pair of mules can carry. For your servant will never again make a burnt offering or a sacrifice to any other god but the Lord. 18Yet may the Lord forgive your servant this one thing: When my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my arm, and I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant in this matter.”

19“Go in peace,” said Elisha.

But after Naaman had traveled a short distance, 20Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Look, my master has spared this Aramean, Naaman, by not accepting what he brought. As surely as the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.”

21 So Gehazi pursued Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and asked, “Is everything all right?”

22“Everything is all right,” Gehazi replied. “My master has sent me to say, ‘Look, two young men from the sons of the prophets have just now come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.’”

23 But Naaman insisted, “Please, take two talents.” And he urged Gehazi to accept them. Then he tied up two talents of silver in two bags along with two sets of clothing and gave them to two of his servants, who carried them ahead of Gehazi.

24 When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the gifts from the servants and stored them in the house. Then he dismissed the men, and they departed.

25 When Gehazi went in and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, “Gehazi, where have you been?”

“Your servant did not go anywhere,” he replied.

26 But Elisha questioned him, “Did not my spirit go with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to accept money and clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, menservants and maidservants? 27Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman will cling to you and your descendants forever!”

And as Gehazi left his presence, he was leprous— as white as snow.

1 Then some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2And after engaging these men in sharp debate, Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers , to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.

3 Sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, recounting the conversion of the Gentiles and bringing great joy to all the brothers. 4On their arrival in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and apostles and elders, to whom they reported all that God had done through them.

5 But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and declared, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.” 6So the apostles and elders met to look into this matter.

7 After much discussion, Peter got up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you that the Gentiles would hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8And God, who knows the heart, showed His approval by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us. 9He made no distinction between us and them, for He cleansed their hearts by faith.

10 Now then, why do you test God by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? 11On the contrary, we believe it is through the grace of the Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

12 The whole assembly fell silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul describing the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. 13When they had finished speaking, James declared, “Brothers, listen to me! 14Simon has told us how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people to be His own. 15The words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written:

19 It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not cause trouble for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood. 21For Moses has been proclaimed in every city from ancient times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to select men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, two leaders among the brothers, 23and sent them with this letter:

30 So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they assembled the congregation and delivered the letter. 31When the people read it, they rejoiced at its encouraging message.

32 Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers. 33After spending some time there, they were sent off by the brothers in peace to return to those who had sent them. 35But Paul and Barnabas remained at Antioch, along with many others, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord.