A FAITHFUL CAPTIVE MAID

There was a little captive girl,
Who had been taken as a slave,
She worked in Naaman’s household;
She was very, very brave.

She daily served her master’s wife,
And one day as she toiled,
She heard that Naaman was quite sick,
And from him all recoiled.

For Naaman was troubled with leprosy,
And fear filled his mind.
He knew not how to cure himself,
And no help could he find.

Then shyly came the little girl
Up to her masters’s wife.
Please send him to Elisha’s house,
If you would spare his life.

So Naaman left in chariot fast,
With bags of gold and more;
He hurried to the prophet’s home
And knocked upon his door.

Elisha sent his servant out
To see why Naaman came;
But to see the prophet Elisha
Poor Naaman looked in vain.

His servants then persuaded him
To hear the servant’s word,
So Naaman came and stood again
At the door from where he turned.

To Jordan’s river Naaman should go
And wash there seven times
If he really wished to be well again –
Good health he should surely find.

He said his Syrian rivers were cleaner
Than Jordan’s muddy river looked;
But he must obey, as he was told,
So the first dip Naaman took.

I’m sure a crowd soon gathered there
To watch a sight so strange:
For some would mock, or laugh in scorn,
Or try his mind to change.

But once was not enough to dip,
Nor twice, nor three, nor four,
But seven times, obeying God,
To be blessed for evermore.

So Naaman dipped down seven times,
And left the waters cold,
His skin as clear as a little child,
His leprosy gone, as foretold.

It wasn’t the water that healed the man
But faith in Elisha’s God:
Now Naaman wanted to praise and rejoice
And worship his new-found God.