Study Desk

But Naaman was furious and went away, and he said, "Behold, I thought, 'He will certainly come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the site and cure the leprosy.'

Then his servants approached and spoke to him, saying, "My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?"

So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, in accordance with the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

Then he returned to the man of God with all his company, and came and stood before him. And he said, "Behold now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel; so please accept a gift from your servant now."

But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, thought, "Behold, my master has spared this Naaman the Aramean, by not accepting from his hand what he brought. As the LORD lives, I will run after him and take something from him."

Naaman said, "Be sure to take two talents." And he urged him, and tied up two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of clothes, and gave them to two of his servants; and they carried them before him.

But he went in and stood before his master. And Elisha said to him, "Where have you been, Gehazi?" And he said, "Your servant went nowhere."

Then he said to him, "Did my heart not go with you, when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to accept money and to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, sheep, oxen, and male and female slaves?

"Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever." So he went out from his presence afflicted with leprosy, as white as snow.

Then he said, "Pick it up for yourself." So he reached out his hand and took it.

Now the king of Aram was making war against Israel; and he consulted with his servants, saying, "In such and such a place shall be my camp."

And the king of Israel sent scouts to the place about which the man of God had told him; so he warned him, so that he was on his guard there, more than once or twice.

Now the heart of the king of Aram was enraged over this matter; and he called his servants and said to them, "Will you not tell me which of us is for the king of Israel?"

One of his servants said, "No, my lord, the king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom."

Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, "This is hopeless, my master! What are we to do?"

Then Elisha prayed and said, "LORD, please, open his eyes so that he may see." And the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Now it came about after this, that Ben-hadad the king of Aram gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria.

When the king heard the woman's words, he tore his clothes—and he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth underneath on his body.

Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. And the king sent a man from his presence; but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, "Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent a man to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door shut against him. Is the sound of his master's feet not behind him?"

Then the king got up in the night and said to his servants, "I will now tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are hungry; so they have left the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, 'When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and get into the city.'"