father: My head, my head! And he said to the lad: Carry 20 him to his mother. And he took him, and brought him to

his mother; and he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. 21 And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of 22 God, and shut the door upon him, and went out. And she called to her husband, and said: Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to 23 the man of God, and come again. And he said: Wherefore wilt thou go to him to-day? It is not new-moon, nor sab24 bath. And she said: It shall be well. And she saddled the ass, and said to her servant, Drive on, and go forward; 25 detain me not in riding, except I hid thee. And she went, and came to the man of God, to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant: Behold, the Shunammite there! 26 Run now to meet her, and say to her: Is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And 27 she answered: It is well. And she came to the man of God, to the mountain; and she laid hold of his feet. And Gehazi came near, to thrust her away. And the man of God said: Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her; and Jehovah 28 has hid it from me, and has not told me. And she said: Have I asked a son of my lord? Did I not say: Deceive 29 me not? Then he said to Gehazi: Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thy hand, and go. If thou meetest any man, salute him not; and if any man salutes thee, answer 30 him not; and lay my staff on the face of the child. And the mother of the child said: As Jehovah lives, and as thy soul lives, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her. 31 And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff on the face of the child; and there was no voice, and no heed. And he went back to meet him, and told him, saying: The child 32 is not awaked. And Elisha came into the house; and be33 hold, the child was dead, laid upon his bed. And he went in, and shut the door upon them both, and prayed to Jeho34 vah. And he went up [on the bed] and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his

eyes, and his hands upon his hands, and bowed himself upon 35 him; and the flesh of the child became warm. Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro. And he went up, and bowed himself upon him, and the child sneezed seven 36 times; and the child opened his eyes. And he called to Gehazi, and said: Call to this Shunammite. And he called to her. And she came to him, and he said: Take up thy son. And she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; and she took up her son, and went out.

37

38

And Elisha came again to Gilgal. And the famine was in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. And he said to his servant: Set on the great pot, and 39 boil pottage for the sons of the prophets. And one went out into the field to gather herbs; and he found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds, his mantle full. And he came and shred them into the pot of pottage; for they knew them 40 not. And they poured out for the men to eat. And it came

to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said: O man of God, there is death in the pot. 41 And they could not eat of it. And he said: Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot. for the people, that they may eat. in the pot.

42

And he said: Pour out And there was no harm

And he

And there came a man from Baal-shalisha. brought to the man of God bread of the first-fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And 43 he said: Give to the people, that they may eat. And his assistant said: How should I set this before a hundred men? He said again: Give to the people, that they may eat. For thus says Jehovah: They shall eat, and shall leave thereof. 44 And he set it before them; and they ate, and left thereof, according to the word of Jehovah.

V. 36. She came to him; to Gehazi, in the outer room. On his saying to her, "take up thy son," intimating his recovery, she went into the prophet's chamber, and fell at his feet; and she took up her son.- -V. 38. The famine; as foretold by Elisha. See ch. 8. 1.- -V. 42. First-fruits. See Num. 18: 12, 13; Deut. 18:1-4. The Levites had left Israel (2 Chron. 11: 13, 14); and pious Israelites gave the first-fruits to Jehovah's prophets.

1 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his lord, and honored; because by him Jehovah had given deliverance to Syria. And the man, a 2 mighty warrior, was leprous. And Syrians had gone out by bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of 3 Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife. And she said to her mistress: O that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then would he recover him 4 from his leprosy. And he went in, and told his lord, saying: Thus and thus said the maid, that is from the land of Israel. 5 And the king of Syria said: Go indeed; and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. And he went. And he took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand shekels of 6 gold, and ten changes of raiment. And he brought to the king of Israel the letter, saying: Now when this letter is come to thee, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him from his leprosy. And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said: Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends to me to recover a man from his leprosy? For only mark, I pray you, and see how he seeks occasion against me.

8

And it was so, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying: Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? Let him come

now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in 9 Israel. And Naaman came, with his horses, and with his chariot; and he stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying: Go, and bathe

in the Jordan seven times; and thy flesh shall come again 11 to thee, and thou shalt be clean. And Naaman was wroth,

V. 1. Given deliverance to Syria. In a war of independence of which the Assyrian monuments have preserved the only account. This incidental allusion is an interesting corroboration of the minute accuracy of the sacred record.-V. 3. The prophet who is in Samaria ; where Elisha was living (ch. 6: 32).-V. 10. Bathe.. So the common version translates the Hebrew word in Lev. 15:5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 18, 21, 22, 27; 16:26, 28; 17: 15, 16; Num. 19: 7, 8, 19.

and went away. And he said: Behold, I thought, he will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of Jehovah his God, and move his hand over the place, and 12 recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not bathe in them, and be clean? And he turned, and went 13 away in a rage. And his servants came near, and spoke to him, and said: My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? How much more, when he says to thee: Bathe, and be clean? 14 Then he went down, and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God. And his flesh came again, as the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

15

And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; and he came, and stood before him. And he said: Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. And now take, I pray thee, a present from thy 16 servant. But he said: As Jehovah lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; 17 but he refused. And Naaman said: Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules' burden of earth? For thy servant will no more offer burnt-offering or 18 sacrifice to other gods, but to Jehovah. In this thing Jehovah pardon thy servant; when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon; when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, Jehovah pardon thy servant in this 19 thing. And he said to him: Go in peace.

20 And he had gone from him a little way. And Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said: Behold, my master has spared Naaman, this Syrian, in not taking from his hand

V. 17. Two mules' burden of earth. That he might sacrifice to Jehovah on soil consecrated to him.. -V. 18. To worship there, by bowing himself. And I bow myself,-bodily, not as an act of worship, nor with the homage of the heart. This, he trusted, Jehovah would p rmit. He bore in his person the proof, to king and people, of Jehovah's supremacy; and he would acknowledge no other in his own public religious rites. He hoped to be pardoned for a simply official act, which to him was otherwise an unmeaning ceremony, and was so understood by others.

that which he brought. As Jehovah lives, I will run after 21 him, and take somewhat from him. And Gehazi hastened after Naaman. And Naaman saw one running after him, and he alighted from the chariot to meet him; and he said: 22 Is all well? And he said: All is well. My master has sent me, and says: Behold, there have just now come to me, from mount Ephraim, two young men of the sons of the prophets; give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes 23 of raiment. And Naaman said: Let it please thee, take two talents. And he urged him; and he bound two talents of silver in two bags, and two changes of raiment, and gave them to two of his servants; and they bore them before him. 24 And he came to the hill; and he took them from their hand, and laid them up in the house. And he let the men go, and 25 they departed. And he came in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said to him: From whence, Gehazi? And he 26 said: Thy servant went not any-whither. And he said to him: Went not my heart, when the man turned back from his chariot to meet thee? Was it a time to take silver, and to take garments, and olive-trees, and vineyards, and sheep, 27 and oxen, and men-servants, and maid-servants? And the leprosy of Naaman shall cleave to thee, and to thy seed forever. And he went out from his presence leprous, white as

snow.

1 AND the sons of the prophets said to Elisha: Behold now, 2 the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us. Let us go, we pray thee, to the Jordan, and take thence every man a beam; and let us there make for us a place, that we 3 may dwell there. And he answered: Go. And one said: Be pleased, I pray thee, to go with thy servants. answered: I will go. And he went with them. came to the Jordan, and cut down trees. And felling a beam, the axe-head fell into the water. And he cried out, and said: Alas, master! For it was borrowed. 6 And the man of God said: Where fell it? And he showed

4

5

And he And they as one was

him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in