2 Kings 2:23-25

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

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!

²⁴And he turned around and looked at them and called a curse down on them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and ripped up forty-two of the boys.

²⁵Elisha went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

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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.”