A widow of one of the prophets — the school of disciples around Elisha — came to him in despair: 'Your servant my husband is dead; you know that he feared the LORD. The creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.' Elisha asked: 'What shall I do for you? Tell me, what have you in the house?' She said: 'Your maidservant has nothing in the house except a flask of oil.'
Elisha said: 'Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbours — empty vessels, and not too few. Then go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour into all these vessels; and when one is full, set it aside.' She did so. The flask poured and poured and did not run dry. She came to Elisha: 'There is not another vessel.' Then the oil stopped. Elisha said: 'Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons can live on the rest.' The episode is a foundational scriptural image of the abundance of grace pouring through the empty vessel of human faith.