And many lepers were in Israel,.... The leprosy was a disease very common among the Jews; hence those laws concerning it in Lev 13:1 and it seems by this account, that it was very prevalent, in the time of Eliseus the prophet; that is, the prophet Elisha; who, by the Septuagint, in 1Ki 19:16 and, in other places, is called "Elisaie": and none of them was cleansed; from their leprosy, by any direction of the prophet, saving Naaman, the Syrian: or but Naaman, who was not an Israelite, but a Syrian: he was cleansed and cured of his leprosy, being ordered by Elisha to dip himself seven times in Jordan, which he did, and was healed, Kg2 5:14.