The Healing of Naaman

5 Na′aman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. ² Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little maid from the land of Israel, and she waited on Na′aman’s wife. ³ She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samar′ia! He would cure him of his leprosy.” ⁴ So Na′aman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the maiden from the land of Israel.” ⁵ And the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.”

So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten festal garments. ⁶ And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Na′aman my servant, that you may cure him of 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 make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”

⁸ But when Eli′sha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you rent your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” ⁹ So Na′aman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the door of Eli′sha’s house. ¹⁰ And Eli′sha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” ¹¹ But Na′aman was angry, and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper. ¹² Are not Aba′na^[a] 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 went away in a rage. ¹³ But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, if the prophet had commanded you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather, 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 his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

¹⁵ Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him; and he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel;^[b] so accept now a present from your servant.” ¹⁶ But he said, “As the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will receive none.” And he urged him to take it, but he refused. ¹⁷ Then Na′aman said, “If not, I pray you, let there be given to your servant two mules’ burden of earth; for henceforth your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the Lord. ¹⁸ In this matter may the Lord pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, 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, “Go in peace.”

Gehazi’s Greed

But when Na′aman had gone from him a short distance, ²⁰ Geha′zi, the servant of Eli′sha the man of God, said, “See, my master has spared this Na′aman the Syrian, in not accepting from his hand what he brought. As the Lord lives, I will run after him, and get something from him.” ²¹ So Geha′zi followed Na′aman. And when Na′aman saw some one running after him, he alighted from the chariot to meet him, and said, “Is all well?” ²² And he said, “All is well. My master has sent me to say, ‘There have just now come to me from the hill country of E′phraim two young men of the sons of the prophets; pray, give them a talent of silver and two festal garments.’” ²³ And Na′aman said, “Be pleased to accept two talents.” And he urged him, and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, with two festal garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they carried them before Geha′zi. ²⁴ And when he came to the hill, he took them from their hand, and put them in the house; and he sent the men away, and they departed. ²⁵ He went in, and stood before his master, and Eli′sha said to him, “Where have you been, Geha′zi?” And he said, “Your servant went nowhere.” ²⁶ But he said to him, “Did I not go with you in spirit when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Was it a time to accept money and garments, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, menservants and maidservants? ²⁷ Therefore the leprosy of Na′aman shall cleave to you, and to your descendants for ever.” So he went out from his presence a leper, as white as snow.

1 The word of the Lord that came to Hose′a the son of Be-e′ri, in the days of Uzzi′ah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezeki′ah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jerobo′am the son of Jo′ash, king of Israel.

The Family of Hosea

² When the Lord first spoke through Hose′a, the Lord said to Hose′a, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry, for the land commits great harlotry by forsaking the Lord.” ³ So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Dibla′im, and she conceived and bore him a son.

⁴ And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. ⁵ And on that day, I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”

⁶ She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name Not pitied, for I will no more have pity on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. ⁷ But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will deliver them by the Lord their God; I will not deliver them by bow, nor by sword, nor by war, nor by horses, nor by horsemen.”

⁸ When she had weaned Not pitied, she conceived and bore a son. ⁹ And the Lord said, “Call his name Not my people, for you are not my people and I am not your God.”^[a]

The Restoration of Israel

^10 [b] Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Sons of the living God.” ¹¹ And the people of Judah and the people of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head; and they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

2 ^[c] Say to your brother,^[d] “My people,” and to your sister,^[e] “She has obtained pity.”

Israel’s Infidelity, Punishment, and Redemption

¹⁶ “And in that day, says the Lord, you will call me, ‘My husband,’ and no longer will you call me, ‘My Ba′al.’ ¹⁷ For I will remove the names of the Ba′als from her mouth, and they shall be mentioned by name no more. ¹⁸ And I will make for you^[g] a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will abolish^[h] the bow, the sword, and war from the land; and I will make you lie down in safety. ¹⁹ And I will betroth you to me for ever; I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. ²⁰ I will betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord.

Further Assurances of God’s Redeeming Love

3 And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is beloved of a paramour and is an adulteress; even as the Lord loves the people of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” ² So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. ³ And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days; you shall not play the harlot, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” ⁴ For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or teraphim. ⁵ Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.

A Sovereign’s Pledge of Integrity and Justice

A Psalm of David.