4 Kings 5:1
Naaman, general of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable: for by him the Lord gave deliverance to Syria: and he was a valiant man and rich, but a leper.
Open 4 Kings 5:1 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Naaman princeps militiæ regis Syriæ erat vir magnus apud dominum suum, et honoratus : per illum enim dedit Dominus salutem Syriæ : erat autem vir fortis et dives, sed leprosus.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Καὶ Ναιμὰν ὁ ἄρχων τῆς δυνάμεως Συρίας ἦν ἀνὴρ μέγας ἐνώπιον τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ καὶ τεθαυμασμένος προσώπῳ, ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ ἔδωκεν Κύριος σωτηρίαν Συρίᾳ· καὶ ὁ ἀνὴρ ἦν δυνατὸς ἰσχύι, λελεπρωμένος.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְ֠נַעֲמָן שַׂר צְבָ֨א מֶֽלֶךְ אֲרָ֜ם הָיָ֣ה אִישׁ֩ גָּד֨וֹל לִפְנֵ֤י אֲדֹנָיו֙ וּנְשֻׂ֣א פָנִ֔ים כִּֽי ב֛וֹ נָֽתַן יְהוָ֥ה תְּשׁוּעָ֖ה לַאֲרָ֑ם וְהָאִ֗ישׁ הָיָ֛ה גִּבּ֥וֹר חַ֖יִל מְצֹרָֽע
Haydock's commentary
King, Benadad, who had defeated Achab, and was slain by Hazael; (chap. viii.; Tirinus) or, according to Salien, Hazael was already king. (Menochius)
Josephus passes over this history. It is not known for what reason, (Calmet) unless he was staggered at the petition of Naaman, ver. 18, 19. (Haydock)
Syria. The Rabbins say, by killing Achab, 3 Kings xxii. 34. But their authority is very small; (Haydock) and he might signalize himself on many other occasions.
Leper. This malady did not exclude him from court. The Hebrews allowed such to appear in public, till the priests had declared them unclean; and other nations viewed the leprosy with less horror.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Basil The Letters, To Amphilochius, concerning the Canons
XVI. Naaman was not a great man with the Lord, but with his lord; that is, he was one of the chief princes of the King of the Syrians. Read your Bible carefully, and you will find the answer to your question there.
St Ambrose On the Mysteries, Chapter III. St. Ambrose points out that we must consider the divine presence and working in the water and the sacred ministers, and then brings forward many Old Testament figures of baptism
17. Then he began to reason with himself that he had better waters in his own country, in which he had often bathed and never been cleansed of his leprosy; and so remembering this, he did not obey the command of the prophet, yet on the advice and persuasion of his servants he yielded and dipped himself. And being forthwith cleansed, he understood that it is not of the waters but of grace that a man is cleansed.