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Bible story · 2 Kings 4:1–7
Bring Me Another Jar
Read it yourself in the King James Bible: 2 Kings 4:1–7 ↗
“And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.”
2 Kings 4:6 (KJV)The Story
A widow came to Elisha in tears. Her husband had been a faithful servant of God, but he had died in debt. Now the man he owed was coming to take her two sons as slaves to pay it off.
Elisha asked her a simple question: “What do you have in your house?” She almost said nothing. “Your servant has nothing at all,” she replied, “except a small jar of oil.”
That was enough. Elisha told her to go to all her neighbors and borrow empty jars, “not a few.” Then she was to go inside with her sons, shut the door, and start pouring her little jar of oil into the empty ones.
She did. The oil kept flowing, jar after jar, until every container in the house was full. “Bring me another,” she told her son. “There isn’t one,” he said. And at that moment, the oil stopped.
Elisha told her to sell the oil, pay the debt, and live on what was left.
Reflection
God started with what she already had, a jar so small she almost didn’t mention it. He rarely asks for what we don’t have. He asks what’s already in our hands, and then He multiplies it.
More Bible stories from 2 Kings. More about: God’s Provision · Women of the Bible · Elisha
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Day 9 of Book 1
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