2 Kings 2:19-25
Elisha Demonstrates His Authority
19 The men of the city said to Elisha, “Look, the city has a good location, as our ▼▼tn Heb “my.”
master can see. But the water is bad and the land doesn’t produce crops.” ▼▼tn Heb “miscarries” or “is barren.”
20Elisha ▼▼tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
said, “Get me a new jar and put some salt in it.” So they got it. 21He went out to the spring and threw the salt in. Then he said, “This is what the Lord has said, ‘I have purified ▼▼tn Or “healed.”
this water. It will no longer cause death or fail to produce crops.’” ▼▼tn Heb “there will no longer be from there death and miscarriage [or, ‘barrenness’].”
22The water has been pure to this very day, just as Elisha prophesied. ▼▼tn Heb “according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.”
23 He went up from there to Bethel. As he was traveling up the road, some young boys ▼▼tn The word נַעַר (naʿar), here translated “boy,” can refer to a broad age range, including infants as well as young men. But the qualifying term “young” (or “small”) suggests these youths were relatively young. The phrase in question (“young boy”) occurs elsewhere in 1 Sam 20:35; 1 Kgs 3:7 (used by Solomon in an hyperbolic manner); 11:17; 2 Kgs 5:14; and Isa 11:6.
came out of the city and made fun of him, saying, “Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!” 24When he turned around and saw them, he called God’s judgment down on them. ▼▼tn Heb “he cursed them in the name of the Lord.” A curse was a formal appeal to a higher authority (here the Lord) to vindicate one’s cause through judgment. As in chapter one, this account makes it clear that disrespect for the Lord’s designated spokesmen can be deadly, for it is ultimately rejection of the Lord’s authority.
Two female bears came out of the woods and ripped 42 of the boys to pieces. 25From there he traveled to Mount Carmel and then back to Samaria. ▼
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