2 Kings 5:13-15

5:13 His servants approached and said to him, “O master, ¹  if the prophet had told you to do some difficult task, ²  you would have been willing to do it. ³  It seems you should be happy that he simply said, “Wash and you will be healed.” ⁴  5:14 So he went down and dipped in the Jordan seven times, as the prophet had instructed. ⁵  His skin became as smooth as a young child’s ⁶  and he was healed.

5:15 He and his entire entourage returned to the prophet. Naaman ⁷  came and stood before him. He said, “For sure ⁸  I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel! Now, please accept a gift from your servant.”

¹ tn Heb “my father,” reflecting the perspective of each individual servant. To address their master as “father” would emphasize his authority and express their respect. See BDB 3 s.v. אָב and the similar idiomatic use of “father” in 2 Kgs 2:12.

² tn Heb “a great thing.”

³ tn Heb “would you not do [it]?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you would.”

⁴ tn Heb “How much more [when] he said, “Wash and be healed.” The second imperative (“be healed”) states the expected result of obeying the first (‘wash”).

⁵ tn Heb “according to the word of the man of God.”

⁶ tn Heb “and his skin was restored, like the skin of a small child.”

⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Naaman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn Heb “look.”