וֶאֱלִישָׁ֡ע דִּבֶּ֣ר אֶל־הָאִשָּׁה֩ אֲשֶׁר־הֶחֱיָ֨ה אֶת־בְּנָ֜הּ לֵאמֹ֗ר ק֤וּמִי וּלְכִי֙ אתי [אַ֣תְּ] וּבֵיתֵ֔ךְ וְג֖וּרִי בַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר תָּג֑וּרִי כִּֽי־קָרָ֤א יְהוָה֙ לָֽרָעָ֔ב וְגַם־בָּ֥א אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ שֶׁ֥בַע שָׁנִֽים׃
Elisha had said to the woman whose son he revived, “Leave immediately with your family and go sojourn somewhere else; for the LORD has decreed a seven-year famine upon the land, and it has already begun.”
(35) He stepped down, walked once up and down the room, then mounted and bent over him. Thereupon, the boy sneezed seven times, and the boy opened his eyes. (36) [Elisha] called Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman,” and he called her. When she came to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” (37) She came and fell at his feet and bowed low to the ground; then she picked up her son and left. (38) Elisha returned to Gilgal. There was a famine in the land, and the disciples of the prophets were sitting before him. He said to his servant, “Set the large pot [on the fire] and cook a stew for the disciples of the prophets.”
Rav Naḥman said to Rabbi Yitzḥak: What is the meaning of that which is written: “For the Lord has called upon a famine and it shall also come upon the land seven years” (II Kings 8:1)? Specifically, in those seven years, what did they eat? Rabbi Yitzḥak said to Rabbi Naḥman that Rabbi Yoḥanan said as follows: In the first year they ate that which was in their houses; in the second year they ate that which was in their fields; in the third year they ate the meat of their remaining kosher animals; in the fourth year they ate the meat of their remaining non-kosher animals; in the fifth year they ate the meat of repugnant creatures and creeping animals, i.e., any insects they found; in the sixth year they ate the flesh of their sons and their daughters; and in the seventh year they ate the flesh of their own arms, to fulfill that which is stated: “Each man shall eat the flesh of his own arm” (Isaiah 9:19).
(2) The woman had done as the man of God had spoken; she left with her family and sojourned in the land of the Philistines for seven years. (3) At the end of the seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines and went to the king to complain about her house and farm.