Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
2 Kings 2:24 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 24. 24And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence: “And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Mockery, curse, and the mauling by bears.”
Read It With
- 2 Kings 2:23–25
Read 2 Kings 2:24 with 2:23–25. The selected wording supplies one step in the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: A group from Bethel jeers at Elisha, he curses in the LORD's name, and two female bears maul forty-two before he travels on.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Mockery, curse, and the mauling by bears,” 2 Kings 2:24 advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence through the wording “And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 2 Kings 2:19–22 establishes this prior movement: The city's men report bad water and miscarrying or unproductive land; Elisha uses a new cruse of salt and declares the water healed. 2 Kings 2:23–25 continues the same royal, prophetic, household, military, reform, or exile movement; that evidenced relationship, rather than database adjacency alone, explains its placement.
Read 2 Kings 2:23–25 together
Why these verses belong together: 2 Kings 2:23–25 forms one scene or regnal notice: A group from Bethel jeers at Elisha, he curses in the LORD's name, and two female bears maul forty-two before he travels on.
Verse 23. 23 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.
Verse 24. 24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
Verse 25. 25 And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria.
Follow the Context
- A group from Bethel jeers at Elisha, he curses in the LORD's name, and two female bears maul forty-two before he travels on.
- The unit closes by establishing the result or tension named in “Mockery, curse, and the mauling by bears” before the next narrated movement.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
2 Kings 2:24 does not permit the wording “And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. This disturbing report does not authorize harming children or youths, cursing mockers, defending leaders with violence, or minimizing the forty-two injured people.
What Remains True
Public power, prophetic authority, and worship remain accountable to truth, human responsibility, affected people, and the limits of the evidence rather than title or success alone. This unit tests that truth through the narrated movement: A group from Bethel jeers at Elisha, he curses in the LORD's name, and two female bears maul forty-two before he travels on. In 2 Kings 2:24, the concrete line “And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And…” keeps that truth accountable to narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And….” Use entrusted authority transparently, protect people affected by the decision, record who is responsible, and submit claimed spiritual or political necessity to independent review. This response follows from the unit's own sequence: A group from Bethel jeers at Elisha, he curses in the LORD's name, and two female bears maul forty-two before he travels on.
Teach It Back
In 70–220 words, explain 2 Kings 2:24's role in 2:23–25. Paraphrase “And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And…,” identify one agent or affected person, state one material source or historical limit, and name one conclusion the context does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 2 Kings 2:23–25 — Mockery, curse, and the mauling by bearsSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The group's age, the force of the insult, Bethel's political setting, the relation between curse and attack, and proposed imperial echoes are disputed; the mauling remains morally disturbing and is not commanded for imitation.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 2 Kings 2:23–25, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Kings
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, royal formulas, clause relationships, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 2:23–25
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 2 Kings with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: A unit-bounded translation comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence is not treated as evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible 2 Kings PDF, printed pp. 627–629, translation and translator notes for 2:23–25
Open source ↗