2 Kings 5:4-14

4 And one went in and told his lord, saying, "Thus and thus said the maid who is from the land of Israel."
5 And the king of Syria said, "Go now, go; and I will send a letter unto 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.
6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, "Now when this letter has come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest cure him of his leprosy."
7 And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes and said, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to cure a man of his leprosy? Therefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me."
8 And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, "Why hast thou rent thy clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel."
9 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee and thou shalt be clean."
11 But Naaman was wroth and went away, and said, "Behold, I thought, `He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and cure the leper.'
12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage.
13 And his servants came near, and spoke unto him and said, "My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, `Wash, and be clean'?"
14 Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

2 Kings 5:4-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 5

This chapter gives an account of the leprosy of Naaman the Syrian, and of the cure of it by Elisha; how he came to hear of him, and the recommendation he had from the king of Syria to the king of Israel, 2Ki 5:1-8, who, coming to Elisha's house, was ordered to dip himself seven times in Jordan, which made him depart in wrath; but one of his servants persuaded him to do it, and he did, and was cured, 2Ki 5:9-14, upon which he returned to Elisha, and offered him a present, which he refused, 2Ki 5:15-19 but Gehazi, his servant, ran after him with a lie in his mouth, and obtained it, and returned to his master with another, for which he was smitten with the leprosy of Naaman, 2Ki 5:20-27.

Third Millennium Bible (TMB), New Authorized Version, Copyright 1998 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc., Gary, SD 57237. All rights reserved.