2 Kings 5:9-15

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

10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ¹"Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean."

11 But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, "Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.

12 Are not Abana^[a] and Pharpar, the rivers of ²Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage.

13 But his servants came near and said to him, ³"My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?"

14 So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, ⁴and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, ⁵and he was clean.

Gehazi's Greed and Punishment

15 Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, "Behold, I know that ⁶there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; so ⁷accept now a present from your servant."

2 Kings 5:9-15 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.

Cross References

• 1. [John 9:7]
• 2. [1 Kings 11:24]
• 3. [2 Kings 6:21; 2 Kings 8:9; Judges 17:10]
• 4. ver. 10; [Job 33:25]
• 5. Luke 4:27
• 6. [Daniel 2:47; Daniel 3:29; Daniel 6:26, 27]
• 7. [Genesis 33:11]

Footnotes

• [a] Or Amana