2 Reis 5

1 Naaman, the king of Aram’s army commander was considered a great man by his master and highly respected, for through him the Lord had made the Arameans victorious. He was a mighty warrior, but he was a leper.

2 Some Arameans had gone on a raid and had captured a young girl from the land of Israel. She had been made a servant to Naaman’s wife. 3 She told her mistress, "If only my master would go and see the prophet who lives in Samaria. I’m sure he could cure him of his leprosy."

4 Naaman went to his master and explained what the Israelite girl had said.

5 "You can go," said the king of Aram, "and I will send a letter with you to the king of Israel." So Naaman left. He took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of clothing.

6 The letter he took to the king of Israel read: "This letter accompanies my servant Naaman, sent to you so you can heal him of his leprosy."

7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he ripped his clothes in panic and said, "Does this man think I’m God, having power over life and death, sending me a leper to heal? Obviously he’s just trying to invent an excuse to attack me, as anyone can see!"

8 But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had ripped his clothes in panic, he sent a message to the king, saying: "What did you rip your clothes for? Please send the man to me, so he will be convinced there is a prophet in Israel."

9 So Naaman arrived with his horses and chariots and stood waiting at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan. Then your body will be healed, and you will be clean."*5:10. "Clean": from an Israelite perspective, anyone with leprosy was unclean.

11 But Naaman got angry and left, saying, "I expected he would at least come out, stand there and invoke the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over where my leprosy is and heal it. 12 Aren’t the rivers of Damascus, Abanah and Pharpar, better than any of these streams of Israel? Couldn’t I have washed in them and been healed?" So he turned around and went off in a rage.

13 But Naaman’s officials went to him and said, "Sir, if the prophet had told you that you had to do something extraordinary, wouldn’t you have done it? How much easier is it to do what he says, ‘Wash and you’ll be healed’?"

14 So Naaman went down and plunged himself underwater in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him. His body was healed, his skin became like a baby’s, and he was clean.