2 Kings 5–8

Naaman Healed of Leprosy

5Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram.^e He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.^af

²Now bands of raiders^g from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. ³She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet^h who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

⁴Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. ⁵“By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents^b of silver, six thousand shekels^c of gold and ten sets of clothing.^{i 6}The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

⁷As soon as the king of Israel read the letter,^j he tore his robes and said, “Am I God?^k Can I kill and bring back to life?^l Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel^m with me!”

⁸When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophetⁿ in Israel.” ⁹So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. ¹⁰Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash^o yourself seven times^p in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”

¹¹But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand^q over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. ¹²Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters^r of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.^s

¹³Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father,^t if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” ¹⁴So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times,^u as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored^v and became clean like that of a young boy.^w

¹⁵Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God^x. He stood before him and said, “Now I know^y that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift^z from your servant.”

¹⁶The prophet answered, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing.” And even though Naaman urged him, he refused.^a

¹⁷“If you will not,” said Naaman, “please let me, your servant, be given as much earth^b as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the Lord. ¹⁸But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning^c on my arm and I have to bow there also—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant for this.”

¹⁹“Go in peace,”^d Elisha said.

After Naaman had traveled some distance, ²⁰Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, “My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the Lord^e lives, I will run after him and get something from him.”

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

²²“Everything is all right,” Gehazi answered. “My master sent me to say, ‘Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent^d of silver and two sets of clothing.’ ”^f

²³“By all means, take two talents,” said Naaman. He urged Gehazi to accept them, and then tied up the two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing. He gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them ahead of Gehazi. ²⁴When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the things from the servants and put them away in the house. He sent the men away and they left.

²⁵When he went in and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?”

“Your servant didn’t go anywhere,” Gehazi answered.

²⁶But Elisha said to him, “Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time^g to take money or to accept clothes—or olive groves and vineyards, or flocks and herds, or male and female slaves?^{h 27}Naaman’s leprosyⁱ will cling to you and to your descendants forever.” Then Gehazi^j went from Elisha’s presence and his skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow.^k

An Axhead Floats

6The company^l of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. ²Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to meet.”

And he said, “Go.”

³Then one of them said, “Won’t you please come with your servants?”

“I will,” Elisha replied. ⁴And he went with them.

They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. ⁵As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!”

⁶The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw^m it there, and made the iron float. ⁷“Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

Elisha Traps Blinded Arameans

⁸Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, “I will set up my camp in such and such a place.”

⁹The man of God sent word to the kingⁿ of Israel: “Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there.” ¹⁰So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned^o the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.

¹¹This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, “Tell me! Which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”

¹²“None of us, my lord the king^p,” said one of his officers, “but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”

¹³“Go, find out where he is,” the king ordered, “so I can send men and capture him.” The report came back: “He is in Dothan.”^{q 14}Then he sent^r horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.

¹⁵When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.

¹⁶“Don’t be afraid,”^s the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more^t than those who are with them.”

¹⁷And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots^u of fire all around Elisha.

¹⁸As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this army with blindness.”^v So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.

¹⁹Elisha told them, “This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to Samaria.

²⁰After they entered the city, Elisha said, “Lord, open the eyes of these men so they can see.” Then the Lord opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria.

²¹When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “Shall I kill them, my father?^w Shall I kill them?”

²²“Do not kill them,” he answered. “Would you kill those you have captured^x with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master.” ²³So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands^y from Aram stopped raiding Israel’s territory.

Famine in Besieged Samaria

²⁴Some time later, Ben-Hadad^z king of Aram mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege^a to Samaria. ²⁵There was a great famine^b in the city; the siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels^a of silver, and a quarter of a cab^b of seed pods^cc for five shekels.^d

²⁶As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, “Help me, my lord the king!”

²⁷The king replied, “If the Lord does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? From the winepress?” ²⁸Then he asked her, “What’s the matter?”

She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll eat my son.’ ²⁹So we cooked my son and ate^d him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him,’ but she had hidden him.”

³⁰When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore^e his robes. As he went along the wall, the people looked, and they saw that, under his robes, he had sackcloth^f on his body. ³¹He said, “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today!”

³²Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders^g were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Don’t you see how this murderer^h is sending someone to cut off my head?ⁱ Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it shut against him. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?” ³³While he was still talking to them, the messenger came down to him.

The king said, “This disaster is from the Lord. Why should I wait^j for the Lord any longer?”

7Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: About this time tomorrow, a seah^a of the finest flour will sell for a shekel^b and two seahs^c of barley for…