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Bible story · 2 Kings 4:38, 42–44
Twenty Loaves for a Hundred Men
Read it yourself in the King James Bible: 2 Kings 4:38, 42–44 ↗
“So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the LORD.”
2 Kings 4:44 (KJV)The Story
There was a famine in the land. Elisha was staying at Gilgal with a group of about a hundred young prophets who were learning from him. Food was scarce for everyone.
One day a man arrived from a town called Baal-shalisha. He had brought Elisha a gift from his harvest: twenty small loaves of barley bread and some fresh ears of grain.
It was a generous gift for one man. Elisha didn’t keep it. He said, “Give unto the people, that they may eat.”
His servant looked at the twenty little loaves and then at the hundred hungry men. “What, should I set this before an hundred men?”
Elisha said it again. Give it to the people. “For thus saith the LORD, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof.”
So the servant set the bread in front of them. And every man ate. When they were done, there was bread left over, just as the Lord had said.
Reflection
If this story sounds familiar, it should. Hundreds of years later, Jesus would feed thousands with a few loaves, and once again there would be food left over.
More Bible stories from 2 Kings. More about: God’s Provision · Elisha
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Day 11 of Book 7
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