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21 Then Elisha went to the spring of water and threw the salt in it and said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘I [not the salt] have purified and healed these waters; there shall no longer be death or barrenness because of it.’” 22 So the waters have been purified to this day, in accordance with the word spoken by Elisha.

23 Then Elisha went up from Jericho to [a]Bethel. On the way, young boys came out of the city and mocked him and said to him, “Go up, you [b]baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!”

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 2:23 Many people in Bethel participated in pagan worship and regarded the prophets of God with contempt.
  2. 2 Kings 2:23 This refers to a bald space on the back of the head, which was probably shaved by prophets as a symbol of their sacred separation from ordinary life. So it appears that the boys were not only ridiculing Elisha’s baldness, but his prophetic office as well.

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