The Healing of Naaman

5 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from a skin disease.^{(A) 2} Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. ³ She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his skin disease.” ⁴ So Naaman^[a] went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. ⁵ And the king of Aram said, “Go, then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.”

He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments.^{(B) 6} He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his skin disease.” ⁷ When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his skin disease? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.”^(C)

⁸ But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.”^{(D) 9} So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. ¹⁰ Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.”^{(E) 11} But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God and would wave his hand over the spot and cure the skin disease! ¹² Are not Abana^[b] and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. ¹³ But his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”^{(F) 14} So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.^(G)

¹⁵ Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant.”^{(H) 16} But he said, “As the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will accept nothing!” He urged him to accept, but he refused.^{(I) 17} Then Naaman said, “If not, please let two mule loads of earth be given to your servant, for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god except the Lord. ¹⁸ But may the Lord pardon your servant on one count: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon, when I do bow down in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant on this one count.”^{(J) 19} He said to him, “Go in peace.”

Gehazi’s Greed

But when Naaman had gone from him a short distance, ²⁰ Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, thought, “My master has let that Aramean Naaman off too lightly by not accepting from him what he offered. As the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.”^{(K) 21} So Gehazi went after Naaman. When Naaman saw someone running after him, he jumped down from the chariot to meet him and said, “Is everything all right?” ²² He replied, “Yes, but my master has sent me to say, ‘Two members of a company of prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim; please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing.’ ”^{(L) 23} Naaman said, “Please accept two talents.” He urged him and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and gave them to two of his servants, who carried them in front of Gehazi.^{[c] 24} When he came to the citadel, he took the bags^[d] from them and stored them inside; he dismissed the men, and they left.

²⁵ He went in and stood before his master, and Elisha said to him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” He answered, “Your servant has not gone anywhere at all.”^{(M) 26} But he said to him, “Did I not go with you in spirit when someone left his chariot to meet you? Is this a time to accept silver and to accept clothing, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, and male and female slaves?^{(N) 27} Therefore the skin disease of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever.” So he left his presence diseased, as white as snow.^(O)

¹⁰ The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and no one shall bury her.” Then he opened the door and fled.^(A)

¹⁰ and Johanan of Azariah (it was he who served as priest in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem).

Preparations for Building the Temple

2 ^[a]Solomon decided to build a temple for the name of the Lord and a royal palace for himself.^{(A) 2 [b]}Solomon conscripted seventy thousand laborers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hill country, with three thousand six hundred to oversee them.^(B)

Alliance with Huram of Tyre

³ Solomon sent word to King Huram of Tyre, “Once you dealt with my father David and sent him cedar to build himself a house to live in.^{(C) 4} I am now about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God and dedicate it to him for offering fragrant incense before him, and for the regular offering of the rows of bread, and for burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths and the new moons and the appointed festivals of the Lord our God, as ordained forever for Israel.^{(D) 5} The house that I am about to build will be great, for our God is greater than other gods.^{(E) 6} But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him except as a place to make offerings before him?^{(F) 7} So now send me an artisan skilled to work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron and in purple, crimson, and blue fabrics, trained also in engraving, to join the skilled workers who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David provided.^{(G) 8} Send me also cedar, cypress, and algum timber from Lebanon, for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting Lebanon timber. My servants will work with your servants^{(H) 9} to prepare timber for me in abundance, for the house I am about to build will be great and wonderful. ¹⁰ I will provide for your servants, those who cut the timber, twenty thousand cors of crushed wheat, twenty thousand cors of barley, twenty thousand baths^[c] of wine, and twenty thousand baths^[d] of oil.”^(I)

¹¹ Then King Huram of Tyre answered in a letter that he sent to Solomon, “Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you king over them.”^{(J) 12} Huram also said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son endowed with discretion and understanding who will build a temple for the Lord and a royal palace for himself.^(K)

¹³ “I have dispatched Huram-abi, a skilled artisan endowed with understanding, ¹⁴ the son of one of the Danite women, his father a Tyrian. He is trained to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood and in purple, blue, and crimson fabrics and fine linen and to do all sorts of engraving and execute any design that may be assigned him, with your artisans, the artisans of my lord, your father David.^{(L) 15} Now, as for the wheat, barley, oil, and wine of which my lord has spoken, let him send them to his servants.^{(M) 16} We will cut whatever timber you need from Lebanon and bring it to you as rafts by sea to Joppa; you will take it up to Jerusalem.”^(N)

¹⁷ Then Solomon took a census of all the aliens who were residing in the land of Israel, after the census that his father David had taken, and there were found to be one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred.^{(O) 18} Seventy thousand of them he assigned as laborers, eighty thousand as stonecutters in the hill country, and three thousand six hundred as overseers to make the people work.^(P)

¹¹ Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house; all that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully accomplished.^(A)

1 The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,^{(A) 2} to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.^{(B) 3} It came also in the days of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah until the end of the eleventh year of King Zedekiah son of Josiah of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.^(C)

Jeremiah’s Call and Commission

⁴ Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,

⁶ Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.”^{(E) 7} But the Lord said to me,

⁹ Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me,

¹¹ The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”^{(I) 12} Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching^[a] over my word to perform it.” ¹³ The word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, tilted away from the north.”^(J)

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to me: “Out of the north disaster shall break out on all the inhabitants of the land.^{(K) 15} For now I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord, and they shall come, and all of them shall set their thrones at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its surrounding walls and against all the cities of Judah.^{(L) 16} And I will utter my judgments against them for all their wickedness in forsaking me; they have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.^{(M) 17} But you, gird up your loins; stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not break down before them, or I will break you before them.^{(N) 18} And I for my part have made you today a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.^{(O) 19} They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.”^(P)