2 Kings 5-6

Common English Bible

Naaman is healed

5 Naaman, a general for the king of Aram, was a great man and highly regarded by his master, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. This man was a mighty warrior, but he had a skin disease.^{[a] 2} Now Aramean raiding parties had gone out and captured a young girl from the land of Israel. She served Naaman’s wife.

³ She said to her mistress, “I wish that my master could come before the prophet who lives in Samaria. He would cure him of his skin disease.” ⁴ So Naaman went and told his master what the young girl from the land of Israel had said.

⁵ Then Aram’s king said, “Go ahead. I will send a letter to Israel’s king.”

So Naaman left. He took along ten kikkars of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. ⁶ He brought the letter to Israel’s king. It read, “Along with this letter I’m sending you my servant Naaman so you can cure him of his skin disease.”

⁷ When the king of Israel read the letter, he ripped his clothes. He said, “What? Am I God to hand out death and life? But this king writes me, asking me to cure someone of his skin disease! You must realize that he wants to start a fight with me.”

⁸ When Elisha the man of God heard that Israel’s king had ripped his clothes, he sent word to the king: “Why did you rip your clothes? Let the man come to me. Then he’ll know that there’s a prophet in Israel.”

⁹ Naaman arrived with his horses and chariots. He stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. ¹⁰ Elisha sent out a messenger who said, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored and become clean.”

¹¹ But Naaman went away in anger. He said, “I thought for sure that he’d come out, stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the bad spot, and cure the skin disease. ¹² Aren’t the rivers in Damascus, the Abana^[b] and the Pharpar, better than all Israel’s waters? Couldn’t I wash in them and get clean?” So he turned away and proceeded to leave in anger.

¹³ Naaman’s servants came up to him and spoke to him: “Our father, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? All he said to you was, ‘Wash and become clean.’” ¹⁴ So Naaman went down and bathed in the Jordan seven times, just as the man of God had said. His skin was restored like that of a young boy, and he became clean.

¹⁵ He returned to the man of God with all his attendants. He came and stood before Elisha, saying, “Now I know for certain that there’s no God anywhere on earth except in Israel. Please accept a gift from your servant.”

¹⁶ But Elisha said, “I swear by the life of the Lord I serve that I won’t accept anything.”

Naaman urged Elisha to accept something, but he still refused. ¹⁷ Then Naaman said, “If not, then let me, your servant, have two mule loads of earth. Your servant will never again offer entirely burned offerings or sacrifices to any other gods except the Lord. ¹⁸ But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master comes into Rimmon’s temple to bow down there and is leaning on my arm, I must also bow down in Rimmon’s temple. When I bow down in Rimmon’s temple, may the Lord forgive your servant for doing that.”

¹⁹ Elisha said to him, “Go in peace.”

But when Naaman had gone some distance from Elisha, ²⁰ Gehazi (who was the servant of Elisha the man of God) thought, My master let this Aramean Naaman off the hook by not accepting the gift he brought! As surely as the Lord lives, I’ll go after him and accept something from him. ²¹ So Gehazi pursued Naaman.

Naaman saw him running after him, so he got down off his chariot to meet him. He said, “Is everything okay?”

²² Gehazi answered, “Yes, but my master sent me to say, ‘Two young men who are members of a group of prophets have just now come to me from the hills of Ephraim. Give them a kikkar of silver and two changes of clothing.’”

²³ Naaman said, “By all means, take two kikkars!” He encouraged Gehazi to accept them. He tied two kikkars of silver up in two bags, along with two changes of clothes. Naaman gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them in front of Gehazi. ²⁴ When Gehazi arrived at the elevated fortress,^[c] he took the items from them and stored them in his house. Then he sent the servants away, and they left. ²⁵ Gehazi then went and stood before his master.

Elisha said to Gehazi, “Where did you come from, Gehazi?”

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

²⁶ Elisha said to him, “Wasn’t my heart going along with you^[d] when the man got off his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to accept silver, clothes, olive trees, vineyards, sheep, cattle, or male and female servants? ²⁷ Naaman’s skin disease will now cling to you and to your descendants forever!” And Gehazi left Elisha’s presence, flaky like snow with skin disease.

An ax head floats

6 The members of the group of prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we now live under your authority is too small for us. ² Let’s go to the Jordan River and each get a log from there. Then we can make a place to live there.”

Elisha said, “Do it!”

³ One of them said, “Please come with us, your servants.”

Elisha said, “Okay, I’ll go.” ⁴ So he went with them. They came to the Jordan River and began cutting down trees. ⁵ One of them was cutting down a tree when his ax head fell into the water. He cried out, “Oh, no! Master, it was a borrowed ax!”

⁶ The man of God said, “Where did it fall?” He showed Elisha the place. Elisha then cut a piece of wood, threw it into the river there, and the ax head floated up. ⁷ “Lift it out,” Elisha said. So the man then reached out and grabbed it.

Aramean attacks are stopped

⁸ Aram’s king was fighting against Israel. He took counsel with his officers, saying, “I’ll camp at such-and-such a place.”

⁹ The man of God sent word to Israel’s king: “Beware of passing by this place because the Arameans are going down there.” ¹⁰ Then Israel’s king sent word to the place the man of God had mentioned to him. Time after time, Elisha warned the king, and the king stayed on the alert.

¹¹ Aram’s king was extremely upset about this. He called his officers and said to them, “Tell me! Who among us is siding with Israel’s king?”

¹² One of his officers said, “No one, Your Majesty! It’s Elisha the Israelite prophet who tells Israel’s king the words that you speak in the privacy of your bedroom.”

¹³ He said, “Go and find out where he is. Then I will send men to capture him.”

They told him, “He is in Dothan.” ¹⁴ So the king sent horses and chariots there with a strong army. They came at night and surrounded the city.

¹⁵ Elisha’s servant got up early and went out. He saw an army with horses and chariots surrounding the city. His servant said to Elisha, “Oh, no! Master, what will we do?”

¹⁶ “Don’t be afraid,” Elisha said, “because there are more of us than there are of them.” ¹⁷ Then Elisha prayed, “Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw that the mountain was full of horses and fiery chariots surrounding Elisha. ¹⁸ The Arameans came toward him, so Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this nation with blindness.” And the Lord struck them blind, just as Elisha asked. ¹⁹ Elisha said to them, “This isn’t the right road or the right city. Follow me, and I’ll lead you to the man you are looking for.” But he took them to Samaria!

²⁰ When they arrived in Samaria, Elisha said, “Lord, open the eyes of these men so they can see.” The Lord opened their eyes, and they saw that they were right in the middle of Samaria! ²¹ When he saw them, Israel’s king said to Elisha, “Should I kill them, my father? Should I?”

²² He said, “No, don’t kill them. Did you capture them with your own sword or bow? Do you have the right to kill them?^[e] Put food and water in front of them so they can eat and drink and return to their master.” ²³ So the king gave them a great feast, and they ate and drank. Then the king let them go, and they returned to their master. After that, Aramean raiding parties didn’t come into Israel anymore.

Ben-hadad attacks Samaria

²⁴ Now it happened later that Aram’s King Ben-hadad gathered all his forces and went up to attack Samaria. ²⁵ The siege lasted so long that there was a great famine in Samaria. A donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver and a quarter kab of doves’ dung^[f] for five shekels. ²⁶ Israel’s king was passing by on the city wall when a woman appealed to him, “Help me, Your Majesty!”

²⁷ The king said, “No! May the Lord help you! Where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?” ²⁸ But then the king asked her, “What’s troubling you?”

She answered, “A woman said to me, ‘Give up your son so we can eat him today; we’ll eat my son tomorrow.’ ²⁹ So we cooked and ate my son. The next day I said to her, ‘Hand over your son so we can eat him.’ But she had hidden her son.”

³⁰ When the king heard the woman’s story, he ripped his clothes. And as he passed by along the wall, the people could see that he was wearing mourning clothes underneath. ³¹ He said, “So may God do to me, and more, if the head of Elisha, Shaphat’s son, remains on his shoulders today!”

³² Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger on ahead, but before the man arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see that this murderer has sent someone to cut off my head? Watch for when the messenger comes, then close the door and hold it shut against him. The sound of his master’s feet is right behind him, isn’t it?”

³³ While Elisha was still speaking with them, the messenger^[g] arrived and said, “Look, this disaster is the Lord’s doing. Why should I trust the Lord any longer?”