Historical
Naaman’s Tza’arat
5 Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man in his master’s sight and highly esteemed, because through him Adonai had given victory to Aram. Though the man was a mighty man of valor, he had tza’arat.
2 Aram had gone out in bands, and had taken captive a young girl from the land of Israel. So she served Naaman’s wife. 3 Then she said to her mistress, “If only my lord went before the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his tza’arat.”
4 So Naaman went in and told his master, saying, “Thus and thus spoke the girl who is from the land of Israel.” 5 The king of Aram said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, 6,000 pieces of gold, and ten changes of clothes.
6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel saying, “When this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent my servant Naaman to you, so you may cure him of his tza’arat.”
7 Now when the king of Israel read the letter, he ripped his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man is sending to me to cure a man of his tza’arat? But please consider, and see how he is seeking a pretext against me.”
8 Now when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, he sent word to the king saying, “Why have you rent your clothes? Please, let him come to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
9 So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots, and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha. 10 So Elisha sent him a messenger, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be clean.”
11 But Naaman was angered and walked away, saying, “I thought he would surely come out to me, stand and call on the Name of Adonai his God, and wave his hand over the spot and cure the tza’arat. 12 Aren’t Amanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.
13 But his servants approached him and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he told you only to ‘Wash and be clean’?” 14 So, he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God. Then his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
15 When he returned with his entire retinue to the man of God, and came and stood before him, he said, “Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. Now please, accept a present[a] from your servant.”
16 But Elisha said, “As Adonai before whom I stand lives, I will accept nothing.” Naaman pressed him to accept, but Elisha refused.
17 So Naaman said, “If not, then please, let your servant be given two mule loads of soil, for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any other god, except Adonai. 18 In this matter, may Adonai pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my hand, and I prostrate myself in the house of Rimmon—when I prostrate myself in the house of Rimmon, may Adonai pardon your servant in this matter.”
19 Elisha said to him, “Go in peace.” So Naaman departed from him some distance.
20 But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, thought, “Behold, my master held back from accepting what this Naaman the Aramean brought. As Adonai lives, I will surely run after him and get something from him.”
21 So Gehazi pursued Naaman. Now when Naaman saw someone running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and asked, “Is everything all right?”
22 “It’s all right, he replied. “My master sent me saying: ‘Behold, two young men of the sons of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothes.’”
23 Naaman said, “Please, take two talents.” He even urged him, and packed two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of clothes, and gave them to two of his servants; and they carried them ahead of him. 24 Now when he arrived at the fortified hill, he took them from their hand and deposited them in the house, and let the men go, so they departed.
25 When he entered and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?”
So he replied, “Your servant has gone nowhere.”
26 Then Elisha said to him, “Didn’t my heart go, when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to accept money and accept clothes, or olive groves and vineyards, or sheep and oxen, or male and female servants? 27 Therefore, the tza’arat of Naaman will cling to you and to your offspring forever.” Then he went out from his presence with tza’arat as white as snow.
Floating Ax Head
6 Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Behold now, the place where we are living in your presence is too cramped for us. 2 So please, let’s go to the Jordan and pick from there each one a beam, and make ourselves a place there to live.”
“Go,” he answered.
3 Then one of them said, “Will you please come with your servants?”
“I will go,” he answered. 4 So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they began to cut down trees. 5 But as one of them was cutting down a beam, the axe-head fell into the water; and he cried, and said, “Ah, my master! It was borrowed.”
6 Then the man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it there, and made the ax head float. 7 Then he said, “Pick it up for yourself.” So he reached out his hand and took it.
Fiery Armies of Heaven
8 Now the king of Aram was warring against Israel. He consulted with his officers, saying, “In such and such a place will be my camp.”
9 But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, saying, “Be careful not to pass this place, for the Arameans are coming down there.” 10 So the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God told him and warned him about, and so he was on his guard there—more than once or twice.
11 His heart upset over this matter, the king of Aram summoned his officers and said to them, “Tell me, which one of us is on the king of Israel’s side?”
12 But one of his officers said, “No, my lord the king. Rather, Elisha the prophet who is in Israel keeps telling the king of Israel the very words that you speak in your bedroom!”
13 So he said, “Go, see where he is, so I may send and seize him.”
Then it was reported to him, “Behold, he is in Dothan.” 14 So he sent horses, chariots and a great army there. They arrived at night and surrounded the city.
15 Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was surrounding the city. So his attendant said to him, “Alas, my master! What are we going to do?”
16 “Fear not,” he replied, “for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “Adonai, please open his eyes that he may see.” Then Adonai opened the eyes of the young man and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
18 When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Adonai and said, “Please strike this people with blinding light.” So He struck them with blinding light according to the word of Elisha. 19 Then Elisha said to them, “This is not the road, nor is this the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man whom you seek.” So he led them to Samaria. 20 Upon their arrival in Samaria, Elisha said, “Adonai, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.” So Adonai opened their eyes, and they could see—behold, they were in the middle of Samaria.
21 When the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “Shall I surely strike them down, Avi?”
22 “Don’t strike them down,” he replied. “Would you strike down those whom you have captured with your own sword and bow? Set before them bread and water that they may eat and drink and go back to their master.” 23 So he prepared a great feast for them. After they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went back to their master. Ever since, the marauding bands of Aram stopped invading the land of Israel.
24 Now it came to pass after this, that King Ben-hadad of Aram gathered all his army and marched against Samaria and besieged it. 25 Now there was a great famine in Samaria, since they were besieging it, until a donkey’s head was sold for 80 pieces of silver, and the quarter of a kav[b] of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver.
26 As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him saying, “My lord the king, help!”
27 But he said, “If Adonai doesn’t help you, how would I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the winepress?” 28 Then the king asked her, “What’s the matter with you?”
She answered, “This woman said to me: ‘Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ 29 So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I told her: ‘Give your son that we may eat him’—but she hid her son.”
30 Now it came to pass when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes—as he was passing by on the wall, the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth underneath upon his flesh. 31 Then he said, “May God do so to me and even more, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today.”
32 Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king had sent a messenger ahead, yet even before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see, this son of a murderer was sent to take away my head! Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door fast against him. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?” 33 While he was yet talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him. So the king said, “Look! This evil is from Adonai—why should I wait for Adonai any longer?”
Scattering an Aramean Army
7 Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of Adonai. Thus says Adonai: Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will sell for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.”
2 Then the officer on whose hand the king was leaning responded to the man of God and said, “Look, even if Adonai should make windows in heaven, could this thing happen?”
He announced, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but will not eat any of it!”
3 Now there were four men with tza’arat at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why should we sit here till we die? 4 If we say: ‘Let’s go into the city,’ then the famine is in the city, so we will die there; but if we sit still here, we’ll die also. So come, let’s go into the camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we’ll live; and if they kill us, we’ll just die.”
5 So they got up at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans. But when they arrived at the edge of the Aramean camp, behold, no one was there! 6 For Adonai had caused the army of the Arameans to hear a noise of chariots and a noise of horses—indeed a noise of a huge army. So they said one to another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians to assault us.” 7 So they got up and fled at twilight, abandoning their tents, their horses and their donkeys—the entire camp just as it was—and fled for their lives.
8 When these men with tza’arat came to the edge of the camp, they entered into one tent, ate and drank, and took from there silver, gold, and clothes, then went and hid them. Then they returned and went into another tent, and took from there too, and went and hid them. 9 Then they said to each other, “It’s not right, what we’re doing. This day is a day of good news, and we’re keeping silent! If we wait till the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go now and report to the king’s household.”
10 So they came and called out to the city gatekeepers, and told them, “We went to the camp of the Arameans, and look, there was not a single soul there, no human voice—just the horses and the donkeys tied up, and the tents just as they were.” 11 Then the gatekeepers called out, and it was reported to the royal palace inside.
12 When the king got up in the night, he said to his courtiers, “Let me tell you now what the Arameans have contrived against us. They know that we are hungry, so they went out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we’ll capture them alive and get into the city.’”
13 But one of his courtiers answered and said, “Please let some men take five of the remaining horses left in the city—look, they are just like the whole multitude left in it, and look, they will be just like the whole multitude of Israel that has already perished—so let’s send and see.”
14 So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the army of the Arameans, saying, “Go and see.” 15 They went after them to the Jordan, and behold, all the way was strewn with clothes and equipment, which the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. Then the messengers returned and reported to the king. 16 So the people went out and ransacked the camp of the Arameans. Then a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel—just as was the word of Adonai.
17 Now the king appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned, to have charge of the gate—but the people trampled on him at the gate, and he died—just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. 18 For when the man of God had spoken to the king, “Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, will be tomorrow about this time at the gate of Samaria,” 19 that officer had answered the man of God and said, “Look, even if Adonai should make windows in heaven, could such a thing happen?” and he replied, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but will not eat any of it!” 20 That’s what happened to him—for the people trampled on him at the gate, and he died.
The Shunammite’s Land Restored
8 Now Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life saying, “Arise and go with your household, and stay wherever you can stay, because Adonai has called for a famine—indeed it has already come—on the land for seven years.” 2 So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God. She and her household went and stayed in the land of the Philistines for seven years.
3 Now at the end of seven years the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, and she went to the king to appeal for her house and her farm. 4 Now the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, “Please tell me,” he was saying, “all the great things that Elisha has done.” 5 Then it came to pass, just as he was telling the king how he had revived someone who was dead, behold, there was the woman whose son he had revived, appealing to the king for her house and her farm. So Gehazi said, “My Lord the king, this is the woman and this is her son whom Elisha revived.”
6 When the king asked the woman, she told him the story. So the king assigned to her a court official, saying, “Restore all that was hers, and all the revenue of the field since the day that she left the land until now.”
Elisha Weeps in Damascus
7 Then Elisha went to Damascus. At the time King Ben-hadad of Aram was sick, and he was told, “The man of God has come all the way here.” 8 So the king said to Hazael, “Take an offering in your hand and go meet the man of God, and inquire of Adonai by him saying: ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”
9 So Hazael went to meet him and took an offering in his hand, of every good thing of Damascus—forty camel-loads—then came and stood before him and said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to you saying: ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”
10 Elisha said to him, “Go, say to him: ‘You will surely recover.’ However, Adonai has also shown me that he will surely die.” 11 Then he fixed his gaze steadily on him until he was ashamed, and then the man of God wept. 12 When Hazael asked, “Why is my lord weeping?” he answered, “Because I know the evil that you will inflict on the men of Israel: their strongholds you will set on fire, their young men you will slay with the sword, their little ones you will dash into pieces, and their pregnant ones you will rip open.”
13 Then Hazael said, “But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do anything of such magnitude?”
Elisha answered, “Adonai has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”
14 Then he departed from Elisha and went to his master, who asked him, “What did Elisha say to you?”
He answered, “He told me that you would surely recover.” 15 But the next day he took a thick cloth, soaked it in water and spread it on his face, so that he died. Then Hazael became king in his place.
Edom Revolts Against Jehoram
16 Now in the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel—Jehoshaphat had been king of Judah—Jehoram the son of King Jehoshaphat of Judah became king. 17 He was 32 years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 18 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab did—for Ahab’s daughter was his wife—and he did what was evil in Adonai’s eyes. 19 Nevertheless, Adonai was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of David His servant, since He had promised to give him a lamp for his children all days.
20 In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and set up their own king. 21 Then Joram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. It came about that he rose by night and struck the Edomites who had surrounded him and the chariot commanders, but his troops fled to their tents. 22 So Edom kept rebelling from under the hand of Judah to this day. Then Libnah also revolted at the same time.
23 Now the rest of the acts of Joram and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 24 Then Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. Then his son Ahaziah became king in his place.
25 In the twelfth year of Joram son of King Ahab of Israel, Ahaziah son of King Jehoram of Judah began to reign. 26 Ahaziah was 22 years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, the daughter of King Omri of Israel. 27 Now he walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in Adonai’s eyes, as the house of Ahab had done—for he was a son-in-law of the house of Ahab. 28 He marched with Joram son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramot-gilead, but the Arameans wounded Joram. 29 So King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah, when he fought against King Hazael of Aram. Ahaziah son of King Jehoram of Judah went down to see Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.