What Does 2 Kings 5:10 Mean in the King James?

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.

2 Kings 5:10 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Jordan means “the descender,” so the promised restoration begins with going down into the water.

THE MEANING

The verse speaks of flesh returning and cleanness following: a changed condition is not beyond the reach of restoration. Its path is concrete and repeated, a descent into water, seven times.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that once illness changes the body, its wholeness is gone for good.

THE ROOT

יַרְדֵּן

Yarden

GROWS FROM

ירד

to descend, go down

“Jordan” in this verse is Yarden. The river’s name grows from the Hebrew root ⁨ירד⁩ (y-r-d), yarad, “to descend.” English keeps the place-name; Hebrew also carries motion, placing the promised return of flesh within a descent into water.

ALSO GROWS

yarad: to descend, go down

יָרַד

This verb makes the downward movement contained in the river’s name explicit.

yeridah: descent, going down

יְרִידָה

The noun preserves the same movement, connecting Jordan’s name to the instruction to enter its waters.

וְיָשֹׁב

veyashov

GROWS FROM

שוב

to return, turn back

“shall come again” in this verse is veyashov. The Hebrew verb means “return”: the flesh comes back to him. The line frames cleansing as the return of what sickness has displaced.

ALSO GROWS

shuv: to return, turn back

שׁוּב

This is the root verb behind the promise that flesh will come back.

teshuvah: return, turning

תְּשׁוּבָה

This noun carries the same movement of return that the verse speaks over the body.

וַיִּשְׁלַח

vayishlach

GROWS FROM

שלח

to send forth, release

“sent” in this verse is vayishlach. The verse begins with a sending: Elisha’s message reaches Naaman through a messenger. The same root carries “send forth” and “release,” so the word is already in motion before Naaman reaches the water.

ALSO GROWS

shaliach: messenger, agent sent forth

שָׁלִיחַ

The messenger embodies the sending that carries the instruction to Naaman.

Shiloach: sent forth; the Hebrew name associated with the pool of Siloam

שִׁלֹחַ

This same root appears in the name of the pool where washing brings sight in John 9:7.

THE PATTERN

Washing carries a body from its present condition into cleanness or restored perception.

Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

2 Kings 5:14 · KJVRepeated washing is followed by flesh returning and cleanness.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Psalm 51:7 · KJVWashing and cleanness are joined as the same movement toward purity.

And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

John 9:7 · KJVWashing in the pool called “Sent” is followed by restored sight.

THE THREAD

And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

John 9:7 · KJV

John names the pool “Sent,” echoing the Hebrew root ⁨שלח⁩ (shalach), “send forth,” behind Elisha’s sending a messenger. In both verses, sending leads to washing and a bodily restoration.

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