A Prayer for Mercy in Troubled Times

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. Upon the ·sheminith [^Leighth; ^Ca reference to an eight-stringed instrument or possibly the manner of singing]. A psalm of David.

¹⁹ Elisha said to him, “Go in peace.”

Naaman had left Elisha and gone a short way ²⁰ when Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, thought, “My ·master [lord] has ·gone easy on [spared] this Naaman the Aramean by not taking what he brought. As surely as the Lord lives, I’ll run after him and get something from him.” ²¹ So Gehazi ·went after [pursued; ran after] Naaman.

When Naaman saw someone running after him, he got off the chariot to meet Gehazi. He asked, “Is ·everything all right [all well]?”

²² Gehazi said, “Everything is ·all right [well]. My ·master [lord] has sent me. He said, ‘Two young men from the ·groups [company; brotherhood; ^Lsons] of prophets in the ·mountains [hill country] of Ephraim just came to me. Please give them ·seventy-five pounds [^La talent] of silver and two changes of clothes.’”

²³ Naaman said, “Please take ·one hundred fifty pounds [^Ltwo talents],” and he urged Gehazi to take it. He tied ·one hundred fifty pounds [^Ltwo talents] of silver in two bags with two changes of clothes. Then he gave them to two of his servants to carry for Gehazi. ²⁴ When they came to the hill, Gehazi took these things from Naaman’s servants and ·put [hid; stored] them in the house. Then he let Naaman’s servants go, and they left.

²⁵ When he came in and stood before his ·master [lord], Elisha said to him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?”

“I didn’t go anywhere,” he answered.

²⁶ But Elisha said to him, “·My spirit was [^LDid not my heart/spirit go…?] with you. I knew when the man ·turned [stepped down] from his chariot to meet you. ·This isn’t [Is this…?] a time to take money, clothes, ·olives, grapes [olive groves and vineyards], sheep, oxen, male servants, or female servants. ²⁷ So Naaman’s ·skin disease [^Tleprosy; 5:1] will ·come on [cling to] you and your ·children [descendants] forever.” When Gehazi left Elisha, he ·had the disease [^Twas a leper; 5:1] and was as white as snow.

²⁸ When the others heard this, they became ·very angry [enraged; furious] and shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ²⁹ The whole city ·became confused [was filled with confusion; was in an uproar]. The people grabbed Gaius and Aristarchus [20:4; 27:2; Col. 4:10; Philem. 24], who were from Macedonia and were traveling with Paul, and ·ran [rushed together] to the theater. ³⁰ Paul wanted to ·go in and talk to the crowd [appear before the assembly], but the ·followers [disciples] did not let him. ³¹ Also, some ·leaders of Asia [provincial authorities; ^Lof the Asiarchs; ^Ca group of wealthy political leaders who had religious functions] who were friends of Paul sent him a message, ·begging [urging; encouraging] him not to ·go [venture; take the risk of going] into the theater. ³² Some people were shouting one thing, and some were shouting another. The ·meeting [assembly] was completely confused; most of them did not know why they had come together. ³³ The Jews ·pushed forward [put in front] a man named Alexander, and some of them [^Ceither the crowd or the Jews] ·told him to explain [or gave him advice on what to say; or assumed he was responsible for the trouble]. Alexander ·waved [gestured with] his hand [^Cfor silence] so he could ·explain things to [or make a defense before] the ·people [crowd]. ³⁴ But when they ·saw [recognized] that Alexander was a Jew [^CJews opposed idol worship, so the crowd was suspicious of him], they all shouted ·the same thing [in unison; ^Lwith one voice] for two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵ Then the city clerk [^Cthe head of the assembly and the senior local official] quieted [calmed down] the crowd. He said, “·People of Ephesus [^LMen, Ephesians], ·everyone knows [^Lwho does not know…?] that Ephesus is the city that ·keeps [guards] the temple of the great goddess Artemis and her ·holy stone [or image; or statue] that fell from heaven [^Cprobably a meteorite that resembled the many-breasted image of Artemis]. ³⁶ Since no one can say this is not true, you should ·be quiet [keep calm]. ·Stop and think before you do anything [Do nothing reckless/rash]. ³⁷ You brought these men here, but they have not ·said anything evil against [^Lblasphemed] our goddess or ·stolen anything from [or committed sacrilege against] her temple. ³⁸ If Demetrius and ·those who work [^Lthe artisans/craftmen] with him have a ·charge [complaint; grievance; ^Lword] against anyone, ·they should go to the courts and judges [^Lthe courts are open/in session and there are proconsuls] where they can ·argue with [or bring charges against] each other. ³⁹ If there is something else you want to talk about, it ·can [or must] be decided at the ·regular town meeting of the people [legal assembly; ^Cwhich met three times a month]. ⁴⁰ I say this because [^Lwe are in danger that] some people might see this trouble today and ·say that we are [accuse us of; charge us with] rioting. We could not explain this, because there is no real reason for this ·meeting [or uproar; commotion].” ⁴¹ After the city clerk said these things, he ·told the people to go home [^Ldismissed the assembly].