What Does 2 Kings 5:16 Mean?
But he said, As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will take none. And he pressed him to take it, but he refused.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But he said, As the LORD liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused.THE KEY
The repeated “take” reveals Elisha’s refusal to let healing from the living LORD be recast as something money can purchase.
THE MEANING
The LORD is living now, and Elisha’s words place his refusal under that reality: the healing cannot be turned into a purchase. The verse shows how payment can attach a human price and claim to a gift whose source is God. Naaman’s insistence does not make the gift a debt.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
If I receive help, I owe the giver repayment.
THE ROOT
אֶקָּח
ʾeqqaḥ
GROWS FROM
לקח
Take, receive, or take into one’s possession.
The same root appears in Elisha’s “I will take none” and Naaman’s urging him “to take it.” The repeated verb holds receiving and taking together: Elisha refuses a payment that could make the healing appear purchased or create an obligation around it.
ALSO GROWS
leqaḥ: Instruction or learning received.
לֶקַח
This branch shows the root can describe taking in understanding as well as taking an object; receiving is not limited to possession.
lāqaḥ ʾiššāh: Marry; literally, take a wife.
לָקַח אִשָּׁה
The phrase shows how “taking” can establish a human bond, sharpening the contrast with Elisha’s refusal to let money bind the healing to a giver.
THE PATTERN
Refusing payment keeps a gift from being turned into a purchase or a human claim over its source.
That I will not take from a thread even to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything of yours, lest you say, I have made Abram rich.Heal the weak, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. As a gift you received, as a gift give.But Peter said to him, Your silver perish with you, because you have thought the gift of God may be bought with silver.THE THREAD
That I will not take from a thread even to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything of yours, lest you say, I have made Abram rich.Genesis 14:23 repeats the root לקח (laqach, take/receive) in Abraham’s refusal to take anything from the king of Sodom. Both refusals prevent a human giver from claiming credit over what is received: Abraham names that danger directly, while Elisha anchors his refusal in standing before the living LORD.
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