2 Kings 5:1–14

Naaman Cleaned from Leprosy

¹Now ^aNaaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man ¹with his master, and ²highly respected, because by him Yahweh had given salvation to Aram. The man was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

²Now the Arameans had gone out ^ain marauding bands and had taken captive a little girl from the land of Israel; and she ¹waited on Naaman’s wife.

³And she said to her mistress, “I wish that my master were before the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his leprosy.”

⁴Then ¹Naaman went in and told his master, saying, “Thus and thus spoke the girl who is from the land of Israel.”

⁵Then the king of Aram said, “Go ¹now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he went and ^atook in his hand ²ten talents of silver and ³six thousand shekels of gold and ten ^bchanges of clothes.

⁶And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying,

“So now as this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

⁷Now it happened that when the king of Israel read the letter, ^ahe tore his clothes and said, “^bAm I God, to put to death and to make alive, that this man is sending word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? But ^cknow now, and see how he is seeking ¹a quarrel against me.”

⁸Now it happened when Elisha ^athe man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent word to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Now let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

⁹So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha.

¹⁰And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “^aGo and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean.”

¹¹But Naaman was furious and went away and said, “Behold, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of Yahweh his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.’

¹²“Are not ¹Abanah and 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 ^awent away in wrath.

^13aThen his servants approached and spoke to him and said, “^bMy father, had the prophet spoken with 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’?”

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