2 Kings 5:13-14

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.

[5:13]  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.

[5:13]  ² tn Heb “a great thing.”

[5:13]  ³ tn Heb “would you not do [it]?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you would.”

[5:13]  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”).

[5:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “according to the word of the man of God.”

[5:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “and his skin was restored, like the skin of a small child.”