2 Kings 5:9-14

5:9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood in the doorway of Elisha’s house. 5:10 Elisha sent out a messenger who told him, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan; your skin will be restored ¹  and you will be healed.” 5:11 Naaman went away angry. He said, “Look, I thought for sure he would come out, stand there, invoke the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the area, and cure the skin disease. 5:12 The rivers of Damascus, the Abana and Pharpar, are better than any of the waters of Israel! ²  Could I not wash in them and be healed?” So he turned around and went away angry. 5:13 His servants approached and said to him, “O master, ³  if the prophet had told you to do some difficult task, ⁴  you would have been willing to do it. ⁵  It seems you should be happy that he simply said, “Wash and you will be healed.” ⁶  5:14 So he went down and dipped in the Jordan seven times, as the prophet had instructed. ⁷  His skin became as smooth as a young child’s ⁸  and he was healed.

¹ tn Heb “will return to you.”

² tn Heb “Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all of the waters of Israel?” The rhetorical question expects an emphatic “yes” as an answer.

³ 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.

⁴ tn Heb “a great thing.”

⁵ tn Heb “would you not do [it]?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you would.”

⁶ 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”).

⁷ tn Heb “according to the word of the man of God.”

⁸ tn Heb “and his skin was restored, like the skin of a small child.”