What Does 2 Kings 5:21 Mean?
So Gehazi pursued Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he dropped down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is there wholeness?
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
So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well?THE KEY
The verb behind “followed after” carries pursuit, placing Gehazi’s chase beside Naaman’s question about wholeness.
THE MEANING
The verse places an urgent pursuit beside a question about wholeness: Gehazi runs after Naaman, and Naaman steps down from the chariot to meet him. His first words ask whether all is well. The gap between the chase and the unanswered question remains open.
THE ROOT
וַיִּרְדֹּף
wayyirdof
GROWS FROM
רדף
radaph
Pursue, chase after.
“pursued” in this verse is wayyirdof. The verb carries the force of pursuit. The same root can describe pursuing peace, so the action’s character emerges from what it is pursuing; here, Gehazi’s aim remains open while Naaman asks after wholeness.
ALSO GROWS
rōdēf: One who pursues.
רֹדֵף
This form names a person by the same active pursuit that drives the encounter.
werodfehu: Pursue it.
וְרָדְפֵהוּ
Psalm 34 directs the same root toward peace, showing that pursuit takes its character from its object.
הֲשָׁלוֹם
hashalom
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
Be whole, complete, sound.
The question asks about more than a calm atmosphere; its root carries the sense of wholeness and completeness. A branch of the same root means making good or repaying, adding the shade of something restored or made right.
ALSO GROWS
shalem: Whole, complete.
שָׁלֵם
This branch gives “Is all well?” a concrete sense of wholeness.
shillem: Make good, repay, recompense.
שִׁלֵּם
The same root family links wholeness with restoring what is due or making something right.
THE PATTERN
Wholeness is spoken into relationship as a question, a greeting, or a blessing.
And he asked them about their wholeness, and said, Is your father whole, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?And so shall you say to him who lives in prosperity, Wholeness be to you, and wholeness to your house, and wholeness to all that you have.Then on that same evening, the first day of the week, when the doors were locked where the disciples had gathered together for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, Wholeness be with you.THE THREAD
Turn aside from evil and do good; seek wholeness and pursue it.Psalm 34:14 uses רדף (radaph, “pursue”) for the same action behind “followed after,” and sets it beside שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “wholeness”). There, wholeness itself is pursued; here, Naaman asks whether it is present while Gehazi’s aim remains unstated.
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