9 As He passed along, He noticed a man blind from his birth.

² His disciples asked Him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?

³ Jesus answered, It was not that this man or his parents sinned, but he was born blind in order that the workings of God should be manifested (displayed and illustrated) in him.

⁴ We must work the works of Him Who sent Me and be busy with His business while it is daylight; night is coming on, when no man can work.

⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the world’s Light.

⁶ When He had said this, He spat on the ground and made clay (mud) with His saliva, and He spread it [as ointment] on the man’s eyes.

⁷ And He said to him, Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam—which means Sent. So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

⁸ When the neighbors and those who used to know him by sight as a beggar saw him, they said, Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?

⁹ Some said, It is he. Others said, No, but he looks very much like him. But he said, Yes, I am the man.

¹⁰ So they said to him, How were your eyes opened?

¹¹ He replied, The Man called Jesus made mud and smeared it on my eyes and said to me, Go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and I obtained my sight!

¹² They asked him, Where is He? He said, I do not know.

¹³ Then they conducted to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.

¹⁴ Now it was on the Sabbath day that Jesus mixed the mud and opened the man’s eyes.

¹⁵ So now again the Pharisees asked him how he received his sight. And he said to them, He smeared mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.

¹⁶ Then some of the Pharisees said, This Man [Jesus] is not from God, because He does not observe the Sabbath. But others said, How can a man who is a sinner (a bad man) do such signs and miracles? So there was a difference of opinion among them.

¹⁷ Accordingly they said to the blind man again, What do you say about Him, seeing that He opened your eyes? And he said, He is [He must be] a prophet!

¹⁸ However, the Jews did not believe that he had [really] been blind and that he had received his sight until they called (summoned) the parents of the man.

¹⁹ They asked them, Is this your son, whom you reported as having been born blind? How then does he see now?

²⁰ His parents answered, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind.

²¹ But as to how he can now see, we do not know; or who has opened his eyes, we do not know. He is of age. Ask him; let him speak for himself and give his own account of it.

²² His parents said this because they feared [the leaders of] the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should acknowledge Jesus to be the Christ, he should be expelled and excluded from the synagogue.

²³ On that account his parents said, He is of age; ask him.

²⁴ So the second time they summoned the man who had been born blind, and said to him, Now give God the glory (praise). This ^[a]Fellow we know is only a sinner (a wicked person).

²⁵ Then he answered, I do not know whether He is a sinner and wicked or not. But one thing I do know, that whereas I was blind before, now I see.

²⁶ So they said to him, What did He [actually] do to you? How did He open your eyes?

²⁷ He answered, I already told you and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Can it be that you wish to become His disciples also?

²⁸ And they stormed at him [they jeered, they sneered, they reviled him] and retorted, You are His disciple yourself, but we are the disciples of Moses.

²⁹ We know for certain that God spoke with Moses, but as for this Fellow, we know nothing about where He hails from.

³⁰ The man replied, Well, this is astonishing! Here a Man has opened my eyes, and yet you do not know where He comes from. [That is amazing!]

³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and a worshiper of Him and does His will, He listens to him.

³² Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.

³³ If this Man were not from God, He would not be able to do anything like this.

³⁴ They retorted, You were wholly born in sin [from head to foot]; and do you [presume to] teach us? So they cast him out [threw him clear outside the synagogue].

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had put him out, and meeting him He said, Do you believe in and adhere to the Son of Man ^[b]or the Son of God?

³⁶ He answered, Who is He, Sir? Tell me, that I may believe in and adhere to Him.

³⁷ Jesus said to him, You have seen Him; [in fact] He is talking to you right now.

³⁸ He called out, Lord, I believe! [I rely on, I trust, I cleave to You!] And he worshiped Him.

³⁹ Then Jesus said, I came into this world for judgment [as a Separator, in order that there may be ^[c] separation between those who believe on Me and those who reject Me], to make the sightless see and to make those who see become blind.

⁴⁰ Some Pharisees who were near, hearing this remark, said to Him, Are we also blind?

⁴¹ Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no sin; but because you now claim to have sight, your sin remains. [If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but because you insist, We do see clearly, you are unable to escape your guilt.]

Read full chapter

4 Now the wife of a son of the prophets cried to Elisha, Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. But the creditor has come to take my two sons to be his slaves.

² Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me, what have you [of sale value] in the house? She said, Your handmaid has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.

³ Then he said, Go around and borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels—and not a few.

⁴ And when you come in, shut the door upon you and your sons. Then pour out [the oil you have] into all those vessels, setting aside each one when it is full.

⁵ So she went from him and shut the door upon herself and her sons, who brought to her the vessels as she poured the oil.

⁶ When the vessels were all full, she said to her son, Bring me another vessel. And he said to her, There is not a one left. Then the oil stopped multiplying.

⁷ Then she came and told the man of God. He said, Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons live on the rest.

⁸ One day Elisha went on to Shunem, where a rich and influential woman lived, who insisted on his eating a meal. Afterward, whenever he passed by, he stopped there for a meal.

⁹ And she said to her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God who passes by continually.

¹⁰ Let us make a small chamber on the [housetop] and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp. Then whenever he comes to us, he can go [up the outside stairs and rest] here.

¹¹ One day he came and turned into the chamber and lay there.

¹² And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. When he had called her, she stood before him.

¹³ And he said to Gehazi, Say now to her, You have been most painstakingly and reverently concerned for us; what is to be done for you? Would you like to be spoken for to the king or to the commander of the army? She answered, I dwell among my own people [they are sufficient].

¹⁴ Later Elisha said, What then is to be done for her? Gehazi answered, She has no child and her husband is old.

¹⁵ He said, Call her. [Gehazi] called her, and she stood in the doorway.

¹⁶ Elisha said, At this season when the time comes round, you shall embrace a son. She said, No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your handmaid.

¹⁷ But the woman conceived and bore a son at that season the following year, as Elisha had said to her.

¹⁸ When the child had grown, he went out one day to his father with the reapers.

¹⁹ But he said to his father, My head, my head! The man said to his servant, Carry him to his mother.

²⁰ And when he was brought to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.

²¹ And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him and went out.

²² And she called to her husband and said, Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may go quickly to the man of God and come back again.

²³ And he said, Why go to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath. And she said, It will be all right.

²⁴ Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, Ride fast; do not slacken your pace for me unless I tell you.

²⁵ So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her afar off, he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite.

²⁶ Run to meet her and say, Is it well with you? Well with your husband? Well with the child? And she answered, It is well.

²⁷ When she came to the mountain to the man of God, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came to thrust her away, but the man of God said, Let her alone, for her soul is bitter and vexed within her, and the Lord has hid it from me and has not told me.

²⁸ Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? Did I not say, Do not deceive me?

²⁹ Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up your loins and take my staff in your hand and go lay my staff on the face of the child. If you meet any man, do not salute him. If he salutes you, do not answer him.

³⁰ The mother of the child said, As the Lord lives and as my soul lives, I will not leave you. And he arose and followed her.

³¹ Gehazi passed on before them and laid the staff on the child’s face, but the boy neither spoke nor heard. So he went back to meet Elisha and said to him, The child has not awakened.

³² When Elisha arrived in the house, the child was dead and laid upon his bed.

³³ So he went in, shut the door on the two of them, and prayed to the Lord.

³⁴ He went up and lay on the child, put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself on him and embraced him, the child’s flesh became warm.

³⁵ Then he returned and walked in the house to and fro and went up again and stretched himself upon him. And the child sneezed seven times, and then opened his eyes.

³⁶ Then [Elisha] called Gehazi and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she came, he said, Take up your son.

³⁷ She came and fell at his feet, bowing herself to the ground. Then she took up her son and went out.

³⁸ Elisha came back to Gilgal during a famine in the land. The sons of the prophets were sitting before him, and he said to his servant, Set on the big pot and cook pottage for the sons of the prophets.

³⁹ Then one went into the field to gather herbs and gathered from a wild vine his lap full of wild gourds, and returned and cut them up into the pot of pottage, for they were unknown to them.

⁴⁰ So they poured it out for the men to eat. But as they ate of the pottage, they cried out, O man of God, there is death in the pot! And they could not eat it.

⁴¹ But he said, Bring meal [as a symbol of God’s healing power]. And he cast it into the pot and said, Pour it out for the people that they may eat. Then there was no harm in the pot.

⁴² [At another time] a man from Baal-shalisha came and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of grain [in the husk] in his sack. And Elisha said, Give to the men that they may eat.

⁴³ His servant said, How am I to set [only] this before a hundred [hungry] men? He said, Give to the men that they may eat. For thus says the Lord: They shall be fed and have some left.

⁴⁴ So he set it before them, and they ate and left some, as the Lord had said.

5 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, accepted [and acceptable], because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

² The Syrians had gone out in bands and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she waited on Naaman’s wife.

³ She said to her mistress, Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.

⁴ [Naaman] went in and told his king, Thus and thus said the maid from Israel.

⁵ And the king of Syria said, Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. And he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, 6,000 shekels of gold, and ten changes of raiment.

⁶ And he brought the letter to the king of Israel. It said, When this letter comes to you, I will with it have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of leprosy.

⁷ 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 to me to heal a man of his leprosy? Just consider and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.

⁸ When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, he sent to the king, asking, Why have you rent your clothes? Let Naaman come now to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.

⁹ So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stopped at Elisha’s door.

¹⁰ Elisha 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 Naaman was angry and went away and said, Behold, I thought 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 heal the leper.

¹² Are not Abana and Pharpar, the 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.

¹³ And his servants came near and said to him, My father, if the prophet had bid 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 Then he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, as the man of God had said, and his flesh was restored like that of a little child, and he was clean.

¹⁵ Then Naaman returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and stood before him. He said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel. So now accept a gift from your servant.

¹⁶ Elisha said, As the Lord lives, before Whom I stand, I will accept none. He urged him to take it, but Elisha refused.

¹⁷ Naaman said, Then, I pray you, let there be given to me, your servant, two mules’ burden of earth. For your servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice to other gods, but only to the Lord.

¹⁸ In this thing may the Lord pardon your servant: when my master [the king] goes into the house of [his god] Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant in this thing.

¹⁹ Elisha said to him, Go in peace. So Naaman departed from him a little way.

²⁰ But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not receiving from his hands what he brought. But as the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.

²¹ So Gehazi followed after Naaman. When Naaman saw one running after him, he lighted down 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 come to me from the hill country of Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets. I pray you, give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments.

²³ And Naaman said, Be pleased to take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of garments and laid them upon two of his servants, and they bore them before Gehazi.

²⁴ When he came to the hill, he took them from their hands and put them in the house; and he sent the men away, and they left.

²⁵ He went in and stood before his master. Elisha said, Where have you been, Gehazi? He said, Your servant went nowhere.

²⁶ Elisha said to him, Did not my spirit go with you when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Was it a time to accept money, garments, olive orchards, vineyards, sheep, oxen, menservants, and maidservants?

²⁷ Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cleave to you and to your offspring forever. And Gehazi went from his presence a leper as white as snow.