2 Kings 5:8–14, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
2 Kings 5:8–14
Naaman resists and then washes in the Jordan
The Jordan is not a protocol, and pride almost walks home sick
Elisha hears that the king has torn his clothes and sends for Naaman so that the commander will know there is a prophet in Israel. Naaman arrives with horses and chariots and stands at the door. Elisha does not come out. A messenger says, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored. Naaman leaves in a rage. He wanted a public gesture, a waved hand, and a named cure. Abanah and Pharpar in Damascus, he says, are better than all the waters of Israel.
His servants come near and reason with him: if the prophet had asked a great thing, would you not have done it? How much more when he says, wash and be clean. Naaman goes down, dips seven times in the Jordan according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh is restored like the flesh of a little child. This is not a medical protocol, not hydrotherapy, and not a seven-step method. It is obedience that finally agrees to be a patient rather than a patron.
How this should shape us
Let simple obedience wound your pride before you demand a more impressive spiritual production. God is not obligated to meet you in the river you prefer, and washing here is not a technique you can export as treatment.
Teach it back
Explain 2 Kings 5:8–14 in your own words. Include its movement, one source-supported detail, one material uncertainty, one affected or obscured person, and one misuse the complete context rules out.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: The disease label covers more than modern Hansen's disease, and the narrative attributes healing to Israel's God without explaining a medical mechanism.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
2 Kings 5:8–14, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, royal formulas, clause relationships, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 5:8–14
Supports: A unit-bounded translation comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence is not treated as evidence.
NET Bible 2 Kings PDF, printed pp. 633–635, translation and translator notes for 5:8–14
Supports: Unit-level literary, compositional, historical, and theological orientation used as one concise scholarly synthesis rather than consensus.
Dietrich, '1 and 2 Kings,' Oxford Bible Commentary (2001), printed pp. 249–253, exposition covering 2 Kings 5:8–14
Supports: A thematic scholarly control preserving both outsider inclusion and the power, captivity, and compromise the healing story can obscure.
Firth, 'Foreigners in the Former Prophets,' complete Naaman discussion: captive girl, Aramean commander, refused gift, confession, outsider status, and Rimmon dilemma
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 2 Kings 5:8–14, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Kings
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, royal formulas, clause relationships, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 5:8–14
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 2 Kings with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: A unit-bounded translation comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence is not treated as evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible 2 Kings PDF, printed pp. 633–635, translation and translator notes for 5:8–14
Open source ↗scholarly commentary chapter
1 and 2 Kings
Walter Dietrich
The Oxford Bible Commentary, Oxford University Press, 2001
Supports: Unit-level literary, compositional, historical, and theological orientation used as one concise scholarly synthesis rather than consensus.
Exact location: Dietrich, '1 and 2 Kings,' Oxford Bible Commentary (2001), printed pp. 249–253, exposition covering 2 Kings 5:8–14
Open source ↗scholarly essay
Foreigners in the Former Prophets
David G. Firth
The Bible and Interpretation, 2021
Supports: A thematic scholarly control preserving both outsider inclusion and the power, captivity, and compromise the healing story can obscure.
Exact location: Firth, 'Foreigners in the Former Prophets,' complete Naaman discussion: captive girl, Aramean commander, refused gift, confession, outsider status, and Rimmon dilemma
Open source ↗