the Fourth Week of Advent
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George Lamsa Translation
2 Kings 5
1 NOW Naaman, general of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance to Aram; and Naaman was a valiant man, but he was a leper.2 And the Arameans had gone out raiding, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naamans wife.3 And she said to her mistress, Blessed would be my lord if he would go to the prophet who is in Samaria! for he would immediately cure him of his leprosy.4 And they went in and told her lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid who is from the land of Israel.5 And the king of Aram said to him, Come, go, I will send a letter to the king of Israel. And he departed and took with him ten talents of silver and six thousand pieces of gold and ten changes of garments.6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, and this was written in it: In the hour when this letter reaches you, behold, I have sent to you Naaman my servant that you may heal him of his leprosy.7 And when the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends me a man to heal him of his leprosy? Wherefore consider, and see how he is seeking to pick a quarrel with me.8 land when Elisha the prophet of God had heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
9 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall come again to you and you shall be clean.11 But Naaman was angry, and went away and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God and wave his hand over the place, and I will recover from the leprosy.12 Are not Amnan and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? I will go and wash in them and be clean. So he turned and went away in a rage.13 And his servants came near and spoke to him and said, Our lord, if the prophet had told you to do some great tiling, you would have done it; but behold, he has told you to do a small thing. Go and wash, and be clean. And he listened to them and did so.14 And he went down and washed seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the prophet of God; and his flesh came again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
15 And he returned to the prophet of God, he and all his company, and came and stood before him, and said to him, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; now therefore, take this blessing from your servant.16 But Elisha said, As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And be urged him to take it; but he refused.17 And Naaman said, Shall there not then be given to your servant two mules burden of earth? For your servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offerings nor sacrifices to any other god but to the LORD.18 In this matter may the LORD forgive your servant, when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there; I am the kings aide and I worship also in the house of Rimmon; and when I worship in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon your servant in this matter.19 And he said to him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.
20 Then Gehazi the disciple of Elisha the prophet of God, said, Behold, my lord has spared Naaman the Aramean, in not accepting from him that which he brought; but, as the LORD lives, I will run after him, and take something from him.21 So Gehazi ran after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he alighted from his chariot to meet him and said to him, Is all well?22 And he said, All is well. My master has sent me, saying, There have just now come to me from mount Ephraim two men of the sons of the prophets; give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments.23 And Naaman said, I am willing; take two talents. And he urged him and bound two talents of silver in two pieces of cloth, with two changes of garments, and he gave them to two of his servants; and they carried them before him.24 And when they came to a secret place, he took them from their hand and put them in the house; and he sent the men away and they departed.25 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.26 And he said to him, My heart told me when the man alighted from his chariot to meet you. Is it a time to gain money and to gain garments and oliveyards and vineyards and sheep and oxen and menservants and maidservants?27 The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave to you and to your descendants for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.