2 Kings 2:23
From there, Elisha went up to Bethel, and as he was walking up the road, a group of boys came out of the city and jeered at him, chanting, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!”
Note Or some small youths or some insignificant young men; similarly in verse 24
And he went up from thence unto Beth-el: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
He went up from there to Bethel. As he was going up by the way, some youths came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up, you baldy! Go up, you baldy!”
And he went up from thence unto Beth-el; and as he was going up by the way, there came forth young lads out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou baldhead; go up, thou baldhead.
Related passages
From the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, grouped by the word they explain.
- Beth-el
- 1 Kings 12:28–32; Hosea 4:15; Hosea 10:5, 15; Amos 3:14; Amos 4:4; Amos 5:5; Amos 7:13
- little children
- The words {nëârim ketannim} not only signify little children but young men; for {katon} signifies not only little, but young, in opposition to old; and {näâr} signifies not only a child, but a young man grown to years of maturity: thus Isaac is called {näâr} when twenty-eight years old, Joseph when thirty-nine, and Rehoboam when forty. These idolatrous young men, having heard of the ascension of Elijah, without believing it, blasphemously bade Elisha to follow him. The venerable prophet, from a Divine impulse, pronounced a curse "in the name of the Lord," which was immediately followed by the most terrible judgment; thus evincing the Source from which it flowed.
- Job 19:18; Job 30:1, 8–31; Proverbs 20:11; Proverbs 22:6, 15; Ecclesiastes 11:10; Isaiah 1:4; Isaiah 3:5; Jeremiah 7:18
- mocked
- Genesis 21:9; 2 Chronicles 36:16; Job 30:1, 8, 9; Psalm 35:15; Isaiah 57:3, 4; Galatians 4:29; Hebrews 11:36
- Go up
- 2 Kings 2:11; Matthew 27:29–31, 40–43