2 Kings 5:2-12

2 And the Syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she waited on Naaman’s wife.
3 And she said unto her mistress, If my lord would ask the prophet that is in Samaria, he would remove his leprosy.
4 And Naaman went in and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.
5 And the king of Syria said, Go, depart, 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 also took the letter to the king of Israel, which said, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman, my slave, to thee, that thou may remove his leprosy.
7 And when the king of Israel read the letter, he rent his clothes and said, Am I God, to kill and to give life, that this man sends unto me to remove the leprosy of this man? Therefore now consider and see how he seeks a quarrel against me.
8 And when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, 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 be restored, and thou shalt be clean.
11 But Naaman went away angry 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 remove the leprosy.
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.

2 Kings 5:2-12 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.

The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010