¹⁷ Did I take advantage of you by any of those whom I sent to you?

¹⁸ I urged Titus, and sent our ^(A)brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not walk in the same spirit? Did we not walk in the same steps?

⁵ Therefore I thought it necessary to ^[a]exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a ^[b]grudging obligation.

¹⁰ And ^(A)if Timothy comes, see that he may be with you without fear; for ^(B)he does the work of the Lord, as I also do.

¹⁷ For this reason I have sent ^(A)Timothy to you, ^(B)who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will ^(C)remind you of my ways in Christ, as I ^(D)teach everywhere ^(E)in every church.

Gehazi’s Greed

²⁰ But ^(A)Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Look, my master has spared Naaman this Syrian, while not receiving from his hands what he brought; but as the Lord lives, I will run after him and take something from him.” ²¹ So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him, and said, “Is all well?”

²² And he said, “All is ^(B)well. My master has sent me, saying, ‘Indeed, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the mountains of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments.’ ”

²³ So Naaman said, “Please, take two talents.” And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and handed them to two of his servants; and they carried them on ahead of him. ²⁴ When he came to ^[a]the citadel, he took them from their hand, and stored them away in the house; then he let the men go, and they departed. ²⁵ Now he went in and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, “Where did you go, Gehazi?”

And he said, “Your servant did not go anywhere.”

²⁶ Then he said to him, “Did not my heart go with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you? Is it ^(C)time to receive money and to receive clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants? ²⁷ Therefore the leprosy of Naaman ^(D)shall cling to you and your descendants forever.” And he went out from his presence ^(E)leprous, as white as snow.

¹⁶ But he said, ^(A)“As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, ^(B)I will receive nothing.” And he urged him to take it, but he refused.