Bible Strands
2 Kings 5:10
Then Elisha sent him a messenger, who said, “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be clean.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Elisha speaks through a messenger to Naaman at the doorway of his house, responding to the Syrian commander’s arrival with his chariots and horses. The instruction arrives at the moment Naaman expects a personal, dramatic intervention.
The words — מַלְאָךְ/mal.'Akh means a messenger, indicating Elisha delegates the command rather than appearing himself. שֶֽׁבַע/she.va'- means seven, establishing a fixed, non-negotiable count for the washing ritual.
The thread — The sevenfold requirement mirrors the seven sprinklings for skin disease in Leviticus 14:7 and parallels the command to wash in the Pool of Siloam in John 9:7. Both later passages use ritual washing as the mechanism for physical and spiritual restoration.
Why it lands — The text demands obedience to a simple, repeated action rather than a theatrical display of power. It requires the reader to accept that restoration comes through submitted compliance, not personal expectation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.
Cross-references
- John 9:7 Then He told him, “Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came back seeing.
- Leviticus 14:7 Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the skin disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and release the live bird into the open field.
- 1 Corinthians 6:11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
- Joshua 6:4 Have seven priests carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark. Then on the seventh day, march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the horns.
- Matthew 15:23 But Jesus did not answer a word. So His disciples came and urged Him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
- Leviticus 14:16 dip his right forefinger into the oil in his left palm, and sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before the LORD.
- Leviticus 14:51 Then he shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn, and the live bird, dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times.
- Leviticus 16:14 And he is to take some of the bull’s blood and sprinkle it with his finger on the east side of the mercy seat; then he shall sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the mercy seat.
- Leviticus 16:19 He is to sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.
- Numbers 19:4 Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting.