2 Kings 5:12-22

12 "Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and ¹went away in a rage.

13 ²Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, "³My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much * more * then, when he says 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; and ⁴his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and ⁵he was clean.

Gehazi's Greed

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

16 But he said, "⁸As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, ⁹I will take nothing." And he urged him to take it, but he refused.

17 Naaman said, "If not, please let your servant at least be given two mules' load of ¹⁰earth; for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering nor will he sacrifice to other gods, but to the LORD.

18 "In this matter may the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and ¹¹he leans on my hand and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon your servant in this matter."

19 He said to him, "¹²Go in peace." So he departed from him some distance *.

20 But ¹³Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, thought, "Behold, my master has spared this Naaman the Aramean, by not receiving from his hands what he brought. ¹⁴As the LORD lives, I will run after him and take something from him."

21 So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw one running after him, he came down from the chariot to meet him and said, "Is all well?"

22 He said, "¹⁵All is well. My master has sent me, saying, 'Behold, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from ¹⁶the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and ¹⁷two changes of clothes.' "

2 Kings 5:12-22 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. Proverbs 14:17; Proverbs 16:32; Proverbs 19:11
• 2. 1 Samuel 28:23
• 3. 2 Kings 2:12; 2 Kings 6:21; 2 Kings 8:9
• 4. 2 Kings 5:10; Job 33:25
• 5. Luke 4:27; Luke 5:13
• 6. Joshua 2:11; 1 Samuel 17:46, 47; 2 Kings 5:8
• 7. 1 Samuel 25:27
• 8. 2 Kings 3:14
• 9. Genesis 14:22, 23; 2 Kings 5:20, 26
• 10. Exodus 20:24
• 11. 2 Kings 7:2, 17
• 12. Exodus 4:18; 1 Samuel 1:17; Mark 5:34
• 13. 2 Kin 4:12, 31, 36
• 14. Exodus 20:7; 2 Kings 6:31
• 15. 2 Kings 4:26
• 16. Joshua 24:33
• 17. 2 Kings 5:5

Footnotes

• [a] Another reading is "Amanah"
• [b] Lit "he and"
• [c] Lit "blessing"
• [d] Lit "said"
• [e] Lit "from"