2 Kings 2:21-23

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

²¹Then Elisha went to the spring of the waters and cast the salt in it and said, Thus says the Lord: I [not the salt] have healed these waters; there shall not be any more death, miscarriage or barrenness [and bereavement] because of it.

²²So the waters were healed to this day, as Elisha had said.

²³He went up from Jericho to Bethel. On the way, ^[a]young [maturing and accountable] boys came out of the city and mocked him and said to him, Go up [in a whirlwind], you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!

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Footnotes

2 Kings 2:23 This incident has long been misunderstood because the Hebrew word “naar” was translated “little boys.” That these characteristic juvenile delinquents were old enough to be fully accountable is obvious from the use of the word elsewhere. For example, it was used by David of his son Solomon and translated “young and inexperienced,” when Solomon was a father (I Chron. 22:5; cf. I Kings 14:21 and II Chron. 9:30 ). It was used of Joseph when he was seventeen (Gen. 37:2). In fact, not less than seventy times in the King James Version this word “naar” is translated “young man” or “young men.”