Quotes About Hope

Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didnít I say, ëDo not deceive me?í”

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.

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

When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his bed.

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 boyís body became warm.

Elisha 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.

Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” So he called her and she came. Then Elisha said, “Pick up your son.”

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

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 Naamanís wife.

She said to her mistress, “If only my master would go to the prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him of his leprosy.”

“Do not be afraid,” Elisha answered, “for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

So there was a great famine in Samaria. Indeed, they besieged the city so long that a donkeyís head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter cab of doveís dung sold for five shekels of silver.

He answered, “If the LORD does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?”

While Elisha was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him. And the king said, “This calamity is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”

Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the LORD says: ëAbout this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel, and two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel.í”

But the officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” replied Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it.”

Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate, and they said to one another, “Why just sit here until we die?

If we say, ëLet us go into the city,í we will die there from the famine in the city; but if we sit here, we will also die. So come now, let us go over to the camp of the Arameans. If they let us live, we will live; if they kill us, we will die.”

So they arose at twilight and went to the camp of the Arameans. But when they came to the outskirts of the camp, there was not a man to be found.

When the lepers reached the edge of the camp, they went into a tent to eat and drink. Then they carried off the silver, gold, and clothing, and went and hid them. On returning, they entered another tent, carried off some items from there, and hid them.

So they went and called out to the gatekeepers of the city, saying, “We went to the Aramean camp and no one was there—not a trace—only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents were intact.”

But one of his servants replied, “Please, have scouts take five of the horses that remain in the city. Their plight will be no worse than all the Israelites who are left here. You can see that all the Israelites here are doomed. So let us send them and find out.”

Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. It was then that a seah of fine flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.

It happened just as the man of God had told the king: “About this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel.”