5Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a very important man in the eyes of his master. And he was highly respected. That’s because the Lord had helped him win the battle over Aram’s enemies. He was a brave soldier. But he had a skin disease.

²Companies of soldiers from Aram had marched out. They had captured a young girl from Israel. She became a servant of Naaman’s wife. ³She spoke to the woman she was serving. She said, “I wish my master would go and see the prophet who is in Samaria. He would heal my master of his skin disease.”

⁴Naaman went to see his own master. He told him what the girl from Israel had said.

⁵“I think you should go,” the king of Aram replied. “I’ll give you a letter to take to the king of Israel.”

So Naaman left. He took 750 pounds of silver with him. He also took 150 pounds of gold. And he took ten sets of clothes. ⁶He carried the letter to the king of Israel. It said, “I’m sending my servant Naaman to you with this letter. I want you to heal him of his skin disease.”

⁷The king of Israel read the letter. As soon as he did, he tore his royal robes. He said, “Am I God? Can I kill people and bring them back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be healed of his skin disease? He must be trying to pick a fight with me!”

⁸Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes. So he sent the king a message. It said, “Why have you torn your robes? Tell the man to come to me. Then he will know there is a prophet in Israel.”

⁹So Naaman went to see Elisha. He took his horses and chariots with him. He stopped at the door of Elisha’s house.

¹⁰Elisha sent a messenger out to him. The messenger said, “Go. Wash yourself in the Jordan River seven times. Then your skin will be healed. You will be pure and clean again.”

¹¹But Naaman went away angry. He said, “I was sure he would come out to me. I thought he would stand there and pray to the Lord his God. I thought he would wave his hand over my skin. Then I would be healed. ¹²And what about the Abana and Pharpar rivers of Damascus? Aren’t they better than any of the rivers of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be made pure and clean?” So he turned and went away. He was burning with anger.

¹³Naaman’s servants went over to him. They said, “You are like a father to us. What if the prophet Elisha had told you to do some great thing? Wouldn’t you have done it? But he only said, ‘Wash yourself. Then you will be pure and clean.’ You should be even more willing to do that!”

¹⁴So Naaman went down to the Jordan River. He dipped himself in it seven times. He did exactly what the man of God had told him to do. Then his skin was made pure again. It became clean like the skin of a young boy.

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