2 Kings 5–8

Chapter 5

Naaman, general of the army, of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable: for by him the Lord gave deliverance to Syria: and he was a valiant man, and rich, but a leper.

²Now there had gone out robbers from Syria, and had led away captive out of the land of Israel, a little maid, and she waited upon Naaman’s wife.

³And she said to her mistress: I wish my master had been with the prophet that is in Samaria: he would certainly have healed him of the leprosy which he hath.

⁴Then Naaman went in to his lord, and told him, saying: Thus and thus said the girl from the land of Israel.

⁵And the king of Syria said to him: Go; and I will send a letter to 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;

⁶And brought the letter to the king of Israel, in these words: When thou shalt receive this letter, know that I have sent to thee Naaman, my servant, that thou mayst heal him of his leprosy.

⁷And when the king of Israel had read the letter, he rent his garments, and said: Am I God, to be able to kill and give life, that this man hath sent to me to heal a man of his leprosy? mark, and see how he seeketh occasions against me.

⁸And when Eliseus, the man of God, had heard this, to wit, that the king of Israel had rent his garments, he sent to him, saying: Why hast thou rent thy garments? let him come to me, and let him know that there is a prophet in Israel.

⁹So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Eliseus:

¹⁰And Eliseus sent a messenger to him, saying: Go, and wash seven times in the Jordan, and thy flesh shall recover health, and thou shalt be clean.

¹¹Naaman was angry, and went away, saying: I thought he would have come out to me, and standing, would have invoked the name of the Lord his God, and touched with his hand the place of the leprosy, and healed me.

¹²Are not the Abana, and the Pharphar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel, that I may wash in them, and be made clean? So as he turned, and was going away with indignation,

¹³His servants came to him, and said to him: Father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, surely thou shouldst have done it: how much rather what he now hath said to thee: Wash, and thou shalt be clean?

¹⁴Then he went down, and washed in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored, like the flesh of a little child: and he was made clean.

¹⁵And returning to the man of God, with all his train, he came, and stood before him, and said: In truth, I know there is no other God, in all the earth, but only in Israel: I beseech thee, therefore, take a blessing of thy servant.

¹⁶But he answered: As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And when he pressed him, he still refused.

¹⁷And Naaman said: As thou wilt: but I beseech thee, grant to me, thy servant, to take from hence two mules’ burden of earth: for thy servant will not henceforth offer holocaust, or victim, to other gods, but to the Lord.

¹⁸But there is only this, for which thou shalt entreat the Lord for thy servant; when my master goeth into the temple of Remmon, to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand: if I bow down in the temple of Remmon, when he boweth down in the same place, that the Lord pardon me, thy servant, for this thing.

¹⁹And he said to him: Go in peace. So he departed from him, in the spring time of the earth.

²⁰But Giezi, the servant of the man of God, said: My master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving of him that which he brought: as the Lord liveth, I will run after him, and take something of him.

²¹And Giezi followed after Naaman: and when he saw him running after him, he leapt down from his chariot to meet him, and said: Is all well?

²²And he said: Well: my master hath sent me to thee, saying: Just now there are come to me from mount Ephraim, two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.

²³And Naaman said: It is better that thou take two talents. And he forced him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, and two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants, and they carried them before him.

²⁴And when he was come, and now it was the evening, he took them from their hands, and laid them up in the house, and sent the men away, and they departed.

²⁵But he went in, and stood before his master. And Eliseus said: Whence comest thou, Giezi? He answered: Thy servant went no whither.

²⁶But he said: Was not my heart present, when the man turned back, from his chariot, to meet thee? So now thou hast received money, and received garments, to buy oliveyards and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and men-servants, and maid-servants.

²⁷But the leprosy of Naaman, shall also stick to thee, and to thy seed for ever. And he went out from him a leper, as white as snow.

Chapter 6

And the sons of the prophets said to Eliseus: Behold, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.

²Let us go as far as the Jordan, and take out of the wood every man a piece of timber, that we may build us there a place to dwell in. And he said: Go.

³And one of them said: But come thou also with thy servants. He answered: I will come.

⁴So he went with them. And when they were come to the Jordan, they cut down wood.

⁵And it happened, as one was felling some timber, that the head of the ax fell into the water: and he cried out, and said: Alas, alas, alas, my lord, for this same was borrowed.

⁶And the man of God said: Where did it fall? and he shewed him the place: Then he cut off a piece of wood, and cast it in thither: and the iron swam.

⁷And he said: Take it up. And he put out his hand, and took it.

⁸And the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying: In such and such a place, let us lay an ambush.

⁹And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying: Beware that thou pass not to such a place: for the Syrians are there in ambush.

¹⁰And the king of Israel, sent to the place which the man of God had told him, and prevented him, and looked well to himself there not once nor twice.

¹¹And the heart of the king of Syria, was troubled for this thing. And calling together his servants, he said: Why do you not tell me who it is that betrays me to the king of Israel?

¹²And one of his servants said: No one, my lord, O king: but Eliseus, the prophet, that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel all the words, that thou speakest in thy privy chamber.

¹³And he said to them: Go, and see where he is: that I may send and take him. And they told him: saying: Behold he is in Dothan.

¹⁴Therefore, he sent thither horses, and chariots, and the strength of an army: and they came by night, and beset the city.

¹⁵And the servant of the man of God, rising early went out, and saw an army round about the city, and horses and chariots: and he told him, saying: Alas, alas, alas, my lord, what shall we do?

¹⁶But he answered: Fear not: for there are more with us than with them.

¹⁷And Eliseus prayed, and said: Lord, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw: and behold, the mountain was full of horses, and chariots of fire round about Eliseus.

¹⁸And the enemies came down to him: but Eliseus prayed to the Lord, saying: Strike, I beseech thee, this people with blindness: and the Lord struck them with blindness, according to the word of Eliseus.

¹⁹And Eliseus said to them: This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will shew you the man whom you seek. So he led them into Samaria.

²⁰And when they were come into Samaria, Eliseus said: Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw themselves to be in the midst of Samaria.

²¹And the king of Israel said to Eliseus, when he saw them: My father, shall I kill them?

²²And he said: Thou shalt not kill them: for thou didst not take them with thy sword, or thy bow, that thou mayst kill them: but set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.

²³And a great provision of meats was set before them, and they ate and drank; and he let them go: and they went away to their master: and the robbers of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.

²⁴And it came to pass, after these things, that Benadad, king of Syria, gathered together all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria.

²⁵And there was a great famine in Samaria: and so long did the siege continue, till the head of an ass was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cabe of pigeons’ dung, for five pieces of silver.

²⁶And as the king of Israel was passing by the wall, a certain woman cried out to him, saying: Save me, my lord, O king.

²⁷And he said: If the Lord doth not save thee, how can I save thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress? And the king said to her: What aileth thee? And she answered:

²⁸This woman said to me: Give thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.

²⁹So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next day: Give thy son, that we may eat him. And she hath hid her son.

³⁰When the king heard this, he rent his garments, and passed by upon the wall. And all the people saw the haircloth which he wore within next to his flesh.

³¹And the king said: May God do so and so to me, and may he add more, if the head of Eliseus, the son of Saphat, shall stand on him this day.

³²But Eliseus sat in his house, and the ancients sat with him. So he sent a man before: and before that messenger came, he said to the ancients: Do you know that this son of a murderer hath sent to cut off my head? Look then when the messenger shall come, shut the door, and suffer him not to come in: for behold the sound of his master’s feet is behind him.

³³While he…