5 Now Naʹa·man the army chief of the king of Syria was a prominent man who was held in esteem by his lord, because through him Jehovah had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty warrior, although he was a leper. 2 On one of their raids, the Syrians had taken captive from the land of Israel a little girl who became a servant to Naʹa·man’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress: “If only my lord would visit the prophet+ in Sa·marʹi·a! Then he would cure him of his leprosy.”+ 4 So he went and reported to his lord, telling him what the girl from Israel had said.
5 Then 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, 6,000 pieces of gold, and ten changes of garments. 6 He brought to the king of Israel the letter, which read: “Along with this letter that has come to you, I send my servant Naʹa·man so that you may cure him of his leprosy.” 7 As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he ripped his garments apart and said: “Am I God, to put to death and to keep alive?+ For he is sending this man to me, telling me to cure him of his leprosy! You can see for yourselves that he is seeking a quarrel with me.”
8 But when E·liʹsha the man of the true God heard that the king of Israel had ripped his garments apart, he at once sent word to the king: “Why did you rip your garments apart? Please let him come to me so that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.”+ 9 So Naʹa·man came with his horses and his war chariots and stood at the entrance of the house of E·liʹsha. 10 However, E·liʹsha sent a messenger to tell him: “Go, wash seven times+ in the Jordan,+ and your flesh will be restored, and you will be clean.” 11 At this Naʹa·man became indignant and started to leave, saying: “Here I said to myself, ‘He will come out to me and stand here and call on the name of Jehovah his God, moving his hand back and forth over the leprosy to cure it.’ 12 Are not the A·baʹnah and the Pharʹpar, the rivers of Damascus,+ better than all the waters of Israel? Can I not wash in them and become clean?” With that he turned and went away in a rage.
13 His servants now approached him and said: “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would you not do it? How much more, then, since he only said to you, ‘Wash and be clean’?” 14 At that he went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of the true God.+ Then his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little boy,+ and he became clean.+
15 After that he went back to the man of the true God,+ he and all his entourage, and he stood before him and said: “Now I know that there is no God anywhere in all the earth but in Israel.+ Now accept, please, a gift from your servant.” 16 However, E·liʹsha said: “As surely as Jehovah whom I serve is living, I will not accept it.”+ He urged him to accept it, but he kept refusing. 17 Finally Naʹa·man said: “If not, please, let your servant be given two mule-loads of soil from this land, for your servant will no longer offer a burnt offering or a sacrifice to any gods other than Jehovah. 18 But may Jehovah forgive your servant for this one thing: When my lord goes into the house of Rimʹmon to bow down there, he supports himself on my arm, so I have to bow down at the house of Rimʹmon. When I bow down at the house of Rimʹmon, may Jehovah, please, forgive your servant for this.” 19 At this he said to him: “Go in peace.” After he departed from him and had traveled for some distance, 20 Ge·haʹzi+ the attendant of E·liʹsha the man of the true God+ said to himself: ‘Here my master has spared this Syrian Naʹa·man+ by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as Jehovah is living, I will run after him and take something from him.’ 21 So Ge·haʹzi chased after Naʹa·man. When Naʹa·man saw someone running after him, he got down from his chariot to meet him and said: “Is everything all right?” 22 To this he said: “All is well. My master has sent me, saying, ‘Look! Just now two young men from the mountainous region of Eʹphra·im from the sons of the prophets came to me. Give them, please, a talent of silver and two changes of garments.’”+ 23 Naʹa·man said: “Go on, take two talents.” He kept urging him,+ and he wrapped up two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and gave them to two of his attendants, who carried them before him.
24 When he reached Oʹphel, he took them from their hand and put them in the house and sent the men away. After they left, 25 he went in and stood by his master. E·liʹsha now said to him: “Where did you come from, Ge·haʹzi?” But he said: “Your servant did not go anywhere.”+ 26 E·liʹsha said to him: “Was my heart not there with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to accept silver or to accept garments or olive groves or vineyards or sheep or cattle or male or female servants?+ 27 Now Naʹa·man’s leprosy+ will stick to you and your descendants forever.” Immediately he went out from before him a leper, white as snow.+
6 The sons of the prophets+ said to E·liʹsha: “Look! The place where we are staying with you is too cramped for us. 2 Please let us go to the Jordan. Let each of us take a log from there and make a place there where we can dwell.” He said: “Go.” 3 One of them said: “Will you please come along with your servants?” At that he said: “I will come.” 4 So he went with them, and they came to the Jordan and began to cut down the trees. 5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the axhead fell into the water, and he cried out: “Alas, my master, it was borrowed!” 6 The man of the true God said: “Where did it fall?” So he showed him the place. He then cut off a piece of wood and threw it there and made the axhead float. 7 He said: “Lift it out.” So he reached out his hand and took it.
8 Now the king of Syria went to war against Israel.+ He consulted with his servants and said: “I will encamp at such and such a place with you.” 9 Then the man of the true God+ sent word to the king of Israel, saying: “Beware of passing by this place, because that is where the Syrians are coming down.” 10 So the king of Israel sent word to the place that the man of the true God had warned him about. He kept warning him, and he stayed away from there on several occasions.+
11 This enraged the king of Syria, so he summoned his servants and said to them: “Tell me! Who among us is on the side of the king of Israel?” 12 Then one of his servants said: “None of us, my lord the king! It is E·liʹsha the prophet in Israel who tells the king of Israel the things that you say in your own bedroom.”+ 13 He said: “Go and find out where he is, so that I may send men to capture him.” Later the report was made to him: “He is in Doʹthan.”+ 14 He immediately sent horses and war chariots there, as well as a large army; they came by night and surrounded the city.
15 When the attendant of the man of the true God rose early and went outside, he saw that an army with horses and war chariots was surrounding the city. At once the attendant said to him: “Alas, my master! What are we to do?” 16 But he said: “Do not be afraid!+ For there are more who are with us than those who are with them.”+ 17 Then E·liʹsha began to pray and say: “O Jehovah, open his eyes, please, that he may see.”+ Immediately Jehovah opened the attendant’s eyes and he saw, and look! the mountainous region was full of horses and war chariots of fire+ all around E·liʹsha.+
18 When the Syrians came down to him, E·liʹsha prayed to Jehovah and said: “Please, strike this nation with blindness.”+ So he struck them with blindness, just as E·liʹsha had requested. 19 E·liʹsha now said to them: “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and let me lead you to the man you are looking for.” However, he led them to Sa·marʹi·a.+
20 When they arrived in Sa·marʹi·a, E·liʹsha said: “O Jehovah, open their eyes so that they may see.” So Jehovah opened their eyes, and they saw that they were in the middle of Sa·marʹi·a. 21 When the king of Israel saw them, he said to E·liʹsha: “Should I strike them down, should I strike them down, my father?” 22 But he said: “You must not strike them down. Do you strike down those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Give them bread and water so they may eat and drink+ and return to their lord.” 23 So he spread a great feast for them, and they ate and drank, after which he sent them away to return to their lord. And not once did the marauder bands of the Syrians+ come again into the land of Israel.
24 Afterward Ben-haʹdad the king of Syria gathered all his army together and went up and besieged Sa·marʹi·a.+ 25 So there was a great famine+ in Sa·marʹi·a, and they besieged it until a donkey’s head+ was worth 80 silver pieces, and a fourth of a cab measure of dove’s droppings was worth 5 silver pieces. 26 As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him: “Help us, O my lord the king!” 27 To this he said: “If Jehovah does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? Or from the wine or oil press?” 28 The king asked her: “What is the matter with you?” She replied: “This woman said to me, ‘Hand over your son, and we will eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’+ 29 So we boiled my son and ate him.+ The next day I said to her, ‘Hand over your son so that we may eat him.’ But she hid her son.”
30 As soon as the king heard the woman’s words, he ripped his garments apart.+ When he passed by on the wall, the people saw that he was wearing sackcloth under his clothes. 31 Then he said: “So may God do to me and add to it if the head of E·liʹsha the son of Shaʹphat remains on him today!”+
32 E·liʹsha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a man ahead of him, but before the messenger arrived, E·liʹsha said to the elders: “Have you seen how this son of a murderer+ has sent to take off my head? Watch when the messenger comes, close the door, and hold the door shut against him. Is not the sound of his lord’s footsteps behind him?” 33 While he was still speaking with them, the messenger came to him, and the king said: “This calamity is from Jehovah. Why should I wait any longer for Jehovah?”
7 E·liʹsha now said, “Listen to the word of Jehovah. This is what Jehovah says: ‘Tomorrow about this time at the gate of Sa·marʹi·a, a seah measure of fine flour will be worth a shekel, and two seah measures of barley will be worth a shekel.’”+ 2 At that the adjutant whom the king relied on said to the man of the true God: “Even if Jehovah should open floodgates in the heavens, could this possibly take place?”+ To that he said: “You will see it with your own eyes,+ but you will not eat from it.”+