2 Reis 5

¹ Now Naaman, a chief of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man before his master, because by him Jehovah had given deliverance to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper.

² And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a little girl from the land of Israel; and she was before Naaman’s wife.

³ And she said to her mistress, If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would take away his leprosy.

⁴ And he went in and told his master, saying, Thus and thus has spoken the girl, who is from the land of Israel.

⁵ And the king of Syria said, Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. So he departed and took in his hand ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of clothing.

⁶ Then he came to the king of Israel with the letter which said, As this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may take away his leprosy.

⁷ And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to take away his leprosy? Therefore please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me.

⁸ So it was, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.

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

¹⁰ And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.

¹¹ But Naaman was furious, and went away and said, Behold I thought He would go forth to come out to me, and would have stood and called upon the name of Jehovah his God, and waved his hand over the place, and taken away the leprosy.

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

¹³ And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, Wash, and be clean?

¹⁴ So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little boy, and he was clean.

¹⁵ And 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, except in Israel; now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.

¹⁶ But he said, As Jehovah lives, before whom I stand, I shall take nothing. And he pressed him to take it, but he refused.

¹⁷ So Naaman said, Then, if not, please let your servant be given two mule-loads of earth; for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods, but unto Jehovah.

¹⁸ Yet in this thing may Jehovah pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to bow down there, and he supports himself on my hand, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon; when I bow down in the house of Rimmon, may Jehovah please pardon your servant in this thing.

¹⁹ And he said to him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a short distance.

²⁰ But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master has spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving from his hands what he brought; but as Jehovah lives, I will run after him and take something from him.

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

²² And he said, All is well. My master has sent me, saying, Behold, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the mountains of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments.

²³ And Naaman said, Please, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and handed them to two of his servants; and they carried them before him.

²⁴ And when he came to the hill, he took them from their hand, and deposited them in the house; and he sent the men away, and they departed.

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

²⁶ Then he said to him, Did not my heart go with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money and to receive clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants?

²⁷ Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your seed always. And he went out from his presence leprous as snow.