2 Kings 5

Naaman was the commander of the army of the king of Syria. His master thought highly of him and gave him honor, because through Naaman the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a brave and mighty soldier, but he had leprosy.

1Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.

Note"Syria" here translates Aram, a kingdom centered on Damascus, north-east of Israel; the two states fought each other repeatedly through this period. "Leprosy" translates a Hebrew word covering a range of disfiguring skin conditions, not only the disease called leprosy today. In Israel it made a person ritually unclean and barred them from normal contact with others; in Syria it evidently carried no such penalty, since Naaman still commands the army.

2Syrian raiding parties had gone out and had carried off a young girl from the land of Israel as a captive, and she served Naaman's wife.

2And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman’s wife.

NoteThese were small cross-border raiding parties rather than an army at war; carrying off captives to work as household slaves was a normal part of such raids.

3The girl said to her mistress, "I wish my master would go to the prophet who is in Samaria. He would cure him of his leprosy."

3And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.

NoteSamaria was the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel, and also the name of the surrounding region.

4So Naaman went in and told his master what the girl from the land of Israel had said.

4And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.

5The king of Syria said, "Go ahead, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So Naaman set out, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten sets of clothing.

5And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment.

NoteA talent was a weight of roughly seventy-five pounds (about thirty-four kilograms), so ten talents of silver is around three quarters of a ton. "Six thousand pieces of gold" means six thousand shekels, perhaps a hundred and fifty pounds of gold. Sets of clothing were treated as portable wealth in the ancient Near East and were a standard high-status gift. The total is an enormous royal payment.

6He brought the letter to the king of Israel. It said, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent my servant Naaman to you, so that you may cure him of his leprosy."

6And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy.

7When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, able to kill and to give life? Why does this man send someone to me to be cured of leprosy? Look and see: he is picking a quarrel with me."

7And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.

NoteTearing one's own clothes was a public, formal gesture of grief, horror or dismay, the recognized way of showing that something terrible had happened. The king reads the letter as a deliberate trap: an impossible demand that will give Syria a pretext for war.

8When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent word to the king: "Why have you torn your clothes? Let the man come to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel."

8And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.

Note"Man of God" is a standard title for a prophet, a person recognized as speaking and acting on God's behalf. It is a description of an office, not a compliment.

9So Naaman came with his horses and his chariot and stood at the door of Elisha's house.

9So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.

NoteArriving with horses and chariot is a display of rank. Chariots were expensive military equipment, and a commander traveling in one is making his standing visible.

10Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this word: "Go and wash seven times in the Jordan River. Your skin will be restored, and you will be clean."

10And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.

NoteThe Jordan is the main river of Israel, though a modest and often muddy one. "Clean" translates a word meaning ritually pure, fit to take part in worship and ordinary community life, not simply washed.

11But Naaman was angry and walked away. He said, "I thought he would surely come out to me and stand there and call on the name of the LORD his God. I thought he would wave his hand over the spot and cure the leprosy.

11But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.

12Aren't Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went off in a rage.

12Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.

NoteThe Abana (or Amana) and Pharpar flowed down from the mountains through Damascus: clear, fast, snow-fed streams watering a famously green oasis city. Naaman's complaint is that they are visibly finer than the muddy Jordan.

13But his servants came up to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great, hard thing, wouldn't you have done it? How much more, then, when he only says, 'Wash and be clean'?"

13And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?

Note"My father" is a respectful form of address to a superior or master, used here by servants to their commander. It says nothing about family relationship.

14So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, just as the man of God had said. His skin was restored and became like the skin of a young child, and he was clean.

14Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

15Then he went back to the man of God with all the men who were with him. He stood in front of him and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. So please accept a gift from me, your servant."

15And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.

NoteIn older English a "blessing" could mean a present, and that is its sense here, Naaman is offering the payment he brought. Speaking of oneself as "your servant" instead of "I" was ordinary polite speech when addressing someone of higher standing.

16But Elisha said, "As surely as the LORD lives, the God I stand before and serve, I will not accept anything." Naaman pressed him to take it, but he refused.

16But he said, As the LORD liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused.

Note"As the LORD lives" is a standard oath formula, roughly "I swear by the living God." "Before whom I stand" uses the language of a servant standing in attendance on a master: Elisha is describing whose household he belongs to.

17Then Naaman said, "If you will not, then please let me, your servant, be given as much soil as two mules can carry. From now on your servant will not make a burnt offering or any sacrifice to any god but the LORD.

17And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules’ burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the LORD.

NoteGods in the ancient Near East were commonly thought of as attached to particular territories. Naaman wants Israelite soil to take home to Damascus, presumably to build an altar on, so that he can worship Israel's God on Israel's ground. A burnt offering was an animal killed and burned whole on an altar; "sacrifice" covers offerings of which parts were eaten by the worshipers.

18But may the LORD forgive your servant for this one thing. When my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, he leans on my arm, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon. When I bow down there, may the LORD forgive your servant for this."

18In this thing the LORD pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon thy servant in this thing.

NoteRimmon was a god worshiped at Damascus, a form of the storm god Hadad. The king "leaning on my hand" describes a formal court role: the chief attendant on whose arm the king physically supports himself in public, a position of high honor. Naaman is asking about the bow he will have to make while performing that duty.

19Elisha said to him, "Go in peace." So Naaman left him and traveled a short distance.

19And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.

Note"Go in peace" is the customary formula for dismissing someone, roughly "go, and all is well between us." The Hebrew does not say whether Elisha is granting Naaman's request or simply letting him go.

20But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, "Look, my master has let this Syrian, Naaman, off easy by not taking what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him."

20But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.

21So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from his chariot to meet him and asked, "Is everything all right?"

21So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well?

22"Everything is all right," Gehazi said. "My master sent me to say, 'Two young men from the group of prophets have just now come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.'"

22And he said, All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.

NoteThe "sons of the prophets" were groups or guilds of prophets who lived together in communities associated with a senior figure like Elisha; they depended on gifts and support from others, so the request Gehazi invents is a plausible one. Mount Ephraim is the hill country of Ephraim, the central highlands of Israel.

23Naaman said, "Please, take two talents." He urged Gehazi to accept. He tied up two talents of silver in two bags, along with two sets of clothing, and handed them to two of his servants, who carried them ahead of Gehazi.

23And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him.

NoteTwo talents of silver weighed something like a hundred and fifty pounds, hence the need for two servants to carry it, one bag each.

24When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the bags from the servants' hands and stored them in the house. Then he sent the men away, and they left.

24And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed.

NoteThe Hebrew word is Ophel, meaning a swelling or mound; it can refer to a hill or to a fortified rise, and here marks a spot near Elisha's house in Samaria.

25Then he went in and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, "Where have you been, Gehazi?" He answered, "Your servant did not go anywhere."

25But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither.

26Elisha said to him, "Was my spirit not with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to accept money and clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and cattle, male servants and female servants?

26And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?

NoteIn Hebrew the "heart" is the mind and inner self rather than the seat of feeling, so Elisha is saying his awareness was present at the scene. The list that follows (olive groves, vineyards, livestock, slaves) is what a fortune in silver was normally converted into: the estate of a substantial landowner.

27So Naaman's leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever." And Gehazi left Elisha's presence with leprosy, his skin as white as snow.

27The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.

Note"Seed" in older English means offspring or descendants. "White as snow" describes the flaking, whitened patches of skin that the Hebrew word for this condition covers.