Chronological

Chapter 5

Elisha Cures Naaman’s Leprosy. ¹ Naaman, the army commander of the king of Aram, was highly esteemed and respected by his master, for through him the Lord had brought victory to Aram. But valiant as he was, the man was a leper.^{[a] 2} Now the Arameans had captured from the land of Israel in a raid a little girl, who became the servant of Naaman’s wife. ³ She said to her mistress, “If only my master would present himself to the prophet in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

⁴ Naaman went and told his master, “This is what the girl from the land of Israel said.” ⁵ The king of Aram said, “Go. I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman set out, taking along ten silver talents, six thousand gold pieces, and ten festal garments.

⁶ He brought the king of Israel the letter, which read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” ⁷ When he read the letter, the king of Israel tore his garments and exclaimed: “Am I a god with power over life and death, that this man should send someone for me to cure him of leprosy? Take note! You can see he is only looking for a quarrel with me!”^{(A) 8} When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments, he sent word to the king: “Why have you torn your garments? Let him come to me and find out that there is a prophet in Israel.”

⁹ Naaman came with his horses and chariot and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. ¹⁰ Elisha sent him the message: “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean.”^{(B) 11} But Naaman went away angry, saying, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand there to call on the name of the Lord his God, and would move his hand over the place, and thus cure the leprous spot. ¹² Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?”^[b] With this, he turned about in anger and left.

¹³ But his servants came up and reasoned with him: “My father, if the prophet told you to do something extraordinary, would you not do it? All the more since he told you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” ¹⁴ So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.^(C)

¹⁵ He returned with his whole retinue to the man of God. On his arrival he stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel. Please accept a gift from your servant.”^{(D) 16} Elisha replied, “As the Lord lives whom I serve, I will not take it.” And despite Naaman’s urging, he still refused. ¹⁷ Naaman said: “If you will not accept, please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth,^[c] for your servant will no longer make burnt offerings or sacrifices to any other god except the Lord. ¹⁸ But may the Lord forgive your servant this: when my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down there, as he leans upon my arm, I too must bow down in the temple of Rimmon. When I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord please forgive your servant this.” ¹⁹ Elisha said to him, “Go in peace.”^[d]

Naaman had gone some distance ²⁰ when Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, thought to himself: “My master was too easy on this Aramean Naaman, not accepting what he brought. As the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something out of him.” ²¹ So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. Seeing that someone was running after him, Naaman alighted from his chariot to wait for him. He asked, “Is everything all right?” ²² Gehazi replied, “Yes, but my master sent me to say, ‘Two young men have just come to me, guild prophets from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two festal garments.’” ²³ Naaman said, “I insist! Take two talents,” and he pressed him. He tied up two silver talents in bags and gave them, with two festal garments, to two of his servants, who carried them before Gehazi. ²⁴ When he reached the hill, Gehazi received these things, appropriated them for his house, and sent the men on their way.

²⁵ He went in and stood by Elisha his master, who asked him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” He answered, “Your servant has not gone anywhere.” ²⁶ But Elisha said to him: “Was I not present in spirit when someone got down from his chariot to wait for you? Is this a time to take money or to take garments, olive orchards or vineyards, sheep or cattle, male or female servants? ²⁷ The leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever.” And Gehazi went out, a leper with skin like snow.^[e]

Chapter 6

The Lost Ax. ¹ The guild prophets once said to Elisha: “This place where we live with you is too cramped for us. ² Let us go to the Jordan, where by getting one beam apiece we can build ourselves a place to live.” Elisha said, “Go.” ³ One of them requested, “Please agree to accompany your servants.” He replied, “Yes, I will come.”

⁴ So he went with them, and when they arrived at the Jordan they began to cut down trees. ⁵ While one of them was felling a tree trunk, the iron ax blade slipped into the water. He cried out, “Oh, no, master! It was borrowed!” ⁶ “Where did it fall?” asked the man of God. When he pointed out the spot, Elisha cut off a stick, threw it into the water, and brought the iron to the surface. ⁷ He said, “Pick it up.” And the man stretched out his hand and grasped it.

The Aramean Ambush. ⁸ When the king of Aram was waging war on Israel, he would make plans with his servants: “I will bivouac at such and such a place.” ⁹ But the man of God would send word to the king of Israel, “Be careful! Do not pass by this place, for Aram will attack there.” ¹⁰ So the king of Israel would send word to the place which the man of God had indicated, and alert it; then they would be on guard. This happened several times.

¹¹ Greatly disturbed over this, the king of Aram called together his officers and asked them, “Will you not tell me who among us is for the king of Israel?” ¹² “No one, my lord king,” answered one of the officers. “The Israelite prophet Elisha can tell the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.” ¹³ He said, “Go, find out where he is, so that I may take him captive.”

Informed that Elisha was in Dothan, ¹⁴ he sent there a strong force with horses and chariots. They arrived by night and encircled the city. ¹⁵ Early the next morning, when the servant of the man of God arose and went out, he saw the force with its horses and chariots surrounding the city. “Alas!” he said to Elisha. “What shall we do, my lord?” ¹⁶ Elisha answered, “Do not be afraid. Our side outnumbers theirs.” ¹⁷ Then he prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes, that he may see.” And the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw that the mountainside was filled with fiery chariots and horses around Elisha.^(E)

¹⁸ When the Arameans came down to get him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this people blind, I pray you.” And the Lord struck them blind, according to Elisha’s word. ¹⁹ Then Elisha said to them: “This is the wrong road, and this is the wrong city. Follow me! I will take you to the man you want.” And he led them to Samaria. ²⁰ When they entered Samaria, Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open their eyes that they may see.” The Lord opened their eyes, and they saw that they were inside Samaria. ²¹ When the king of Israel saw them, he asked, “Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?” ²² Elisha replied, “You must not kill them. Do you slay those whom you have taken captive with your sword or bow?^[f] Serve them a meal. Let them eat and drink, and then go back to their master.” ²³ The king spread a great feast for them. When they had eaten and drunk he sent them away, and they went back to their master. No more Aramean raiders came into the land of Israel.

War Against Aram: Famine. ²⁴ After this, Ben-hadad, king of Aram, mustered his whole army and laid siege to Samaria. ²⁵ Because of the siege the famine in Samaria was so severe that a donkey’s head sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a fourth of a kab of “dove droppings”^[g] for five pieces of silver.

^26 (F)One day, as the king of Israel was walking on the city wall, a woman cried out to him, “Save us, my lord king!” ²⁷ He replied, “If the Lord does not save you, where could I find means to save you? On the threshing floor? In the wine press?” ²⁸ Then the king asked her, “What is your trouble?” She replied: “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son that we may eat him today; then tomorrow we will eat my son.’ ²⁹ So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Now give up your son that we may eat him.’ But she hid her son.” ³⁰ When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his garments. And as he was walking on the wall, the people saw that he was wearing sackcloth underneath, next to his skin.

³¹ The king exclaimed, “May God do thus to me, and more, if the head of Elisha, son of Shaphat, stays on him today!”

³² Meanwhile, Elisha was sitting in his house in conference with the elders. The king had sent one of his courtiers; but before the messenger reached him, Elisha said to the elders: “Do you know that this murderer is sending someone to cut off my head? When the messenger comes, see that you close the door and hold it fast against him. His master’s footsteps are echoing behind him.” ³³ While Elisha was still speaking, the messenger came down to him and said, “This evil is from the Lord. Why should I trust in the Lord any longer?”^[h]

Chapter 7

¹ Elisha replied: “Hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord: At this time tomorrow a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, in the market^[i] of Samaria.” ² But the adjutant, upon whose arm the king leaned, answered the man of God, “Even if the Lord were to make windows in heaven, how could this happen?” Elisha said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”

³ At the city gate four lepers were asking one another, “Why should we sit here until we die?^{(G) 4} If we decide to go into the city, we shall die there, for there is famine in the city. If we remain here, we shall die too. So come, let us desert to the camp of the Arameans. If they let us live, we live; if they kill us, we die.” ⁵ At twilight they left for the Arameans; but when they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there. ^6 (H)The Lord had caused the army of the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses, the sound of a large army, and they had reasoned among themselves, “The king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to fight us.” ⁷ Then in the twilight they had fled, abandoning their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, the whole camp just as it was, and fleeing for their lives.

⁸ After the lepers reached the edge of the camp, they went first into one tent, ate and drank, and took silver, gold, and clothing from it, and went out and hid them. Back they came into another tent, took things from it, and again went out and hid them. ⁹ Then they said to one another: “We are not doing right. This is a day of good news, and we are keeping silent. If we wait until morning breaks, we will be blamed. So come, let us go and inform the palace.” ¹⁰ They came and summoned the city gatekeepers. They said, “We went to the camp of the Arameans, but no one was there—not a human voice, only the horses and donkeys tethered, and the tents just as they were left.” ¹¹ The gatekeepers announced this and it was reported within the palace.

¹² Though it was night, the king got up; he said to his servants, “Let me tell you what the Arameans have done to us. Knowing that we are starving, they have left their camp to hide in the field. They are thinking, ‘The Israelites will leave the city and we will take them alive and enter it.’” ^13 [j]One of his servants, however, suggested: “Let some of us take five of the horses remaining in the city—they are just like the whole throng of Israel that has reached its limit—and let us send scouts to investigate.” ¹⁴ They took two chariots, and horses, and the king sent them to reconnoiter the Aramean army with the order, “Go and find out.” ¹⁵ They followed the Arameans as far as the Jordan, and the whole route was strewn with garments and other objects that the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king. ¹⁶ The people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans.

Then a seah of fine flour sold for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord. ¹⁷ The king had put in charge of the gate the officer upon whose arm he leaned; but the people trampled him to death at the gate, just as the man of God had predicted when the messenger came down to him. ¹⁸ This was in accordance with the word the man of God spoke to the king: “Two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel at this time tomorrow in the market of Samaria.” ¹⁹ The adjutant had answered the man of God, “Even if the Lord were to make windows in heaven, how could this happen?” And Elisha had replied, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” ²⁰ And that is what happened to him, for the people trampled him to death at the gate.

Chapter 8

The Shunammite’s Return. ¹ Elisha once said to the woman whose son he had restored to life: “Get ready! Leave with your household and live wherever you can, because the Lord has decreed a seven-year famine which is coming upon the land.”^{(I) 2} The woman got ready and did as the man of God said, setting out with her household, and living in the land of the Philistines for seven years.

³ At the end of the seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines and went out to the king to appeal for her house and her field. ⁴ The king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God: “Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.” ⁵ Just as he was telling the king how his master had restored a dead person to life, the very woman whose son Elisha had restored to life came to the king appealing for her house and field. Gehazi said, “My lord king, this is the woman, and this is that son of hers whom Elisha restored to life.” ⁶ The king questioned the woman, and she told him her story. With that the king placed an official^[k] at her disposal, saying, “Restore all her property to her, with all that the field produced from the day she left the land until now.”

Elisha and Hazael of Aram.^{[l] 7 (J)}Elisha came to Damascus at a time when Ben-hadad, king of Aram, lay sick. When he was told, “The man of God has come here,” ⁸ the king said to Hazael, “Take a gift with you and go call on the man of God. Consult the Lord through him, ‘Will I recover from this sickness?’”^{(K) 9} Hazael went to visit him, carrying a present, and with forty camel loads of the best goods of Damascus. On his arrival, he stood before Elisha and said, “Your son Ben-hadad, king of Aram, has sent me to you to ask, ‘Will I recover from my sickness?’” ¹⁰ Elisha answered, “Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover.’ But the Lord has showed me that he will surely die.” ¹¹ Then he stared him down until he became ill at ease. The man of God wept, ¹² and Hazael asked, “Why are you weeping, my lord?” Elisha replied, “Because I know the evil that you will inflict upon the Israelites. You will burn their fortresses, you will slay their youth with the sword, you will dash their little children to pieces, you will rip open their pregnant women.”^{(L) 13} Hazael exclaimed, “How can your servant, a dog^[m] like me, do anything so important?” Elisha replied, “The Lord has showed you to me as king over Aram.”

¹⁴ Hazael left Elisha and returned to his master, who asked, “What did Elisha tell you?” Hazael replied, “He said, ‘You will surely recover.’” ¹⁵ The next day, however, Hazael took a cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over the king’s face, so that he died. And Hazael succeeded him as king.

Reign of Joram of Judah. ^16 [n]In the fifth year of Joram, son of Ahab, king of Israel, Joram, son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, became king. ¹⁷ He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

¹⁸ He walked in the way of the kings of Israel as the house of Ahab had done, since the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. ¹⁹ Even so, the Lord was unwilling to destroy Judah, for the sake of his servant David. For he had promised David that he would leave him a holding in the Lord’s presence for all time.^{(M) 20} During Joram’s reign, Edom revolted against the rule of Judah and installed a king of its own. ²¹ Thereupon Joram with all his chariots crossed over to Zair. He arose by night and broke through the Edomites when they had surrounded him and the commanders of his chariots. Then his army fled homeward. ²² To this day Edom has been in revolt against the rule of Judah. Libnah also revolted at that time.^(N)

²³ The rest of the acts of Joram, with all that he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. ²⁴ Joram rested with his ancestors; he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David, and his son Ahaziah succeeded him as king.

Reign of Ahaziah of Judah.^{[o] 25} In the twelfth year of Joram, son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah, son of Joram, king of Judah, became king. ²⁶ Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, daughter of Omri, king of Israel.^[p]

²⁷ He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the Lord’s sight like the house of Ahab, since he was related to them by marriage. ²⁸ He joined Joram, son of Ahab, in battle against Hazael, king of Aram, at Ramoth-gilead, where the Arameans wounded Joram.^{(O) 29} King Joram returned to Jezreel to be healed of the wounds which the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah in his battle against Hazael, king of Aram. Then Ahaziah, son of Joram, king of Judah, went down to Jezreel to visit Joram, son of Ahab, for he was sick.