2 Kings 2:24
“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.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Elisha turns and curses the mocking children in God's name, and two bears emerge from the forest and kill forty-two of them.
Context
Elisha, facing mockery and spiritual defiance, pronounces a curse that God executes through two bears that emerge from the forest. The death toll suggests a large group of youths, not merely 'little children' but young people capable of coordinated mockery.
In the Original Language
'cursed' (Hebrew qalal) means to pronounce judgment or to call down calamity. The word carries the sense of invoking divine power against the one cursed. Elisha does not curse from personal anger but from prophetic authority.
Application
When we reject God's word or mock those called to serve Him, we invite judgment. This passage teaches us to fear God and to respect the sanctity of His prophetic office. It calls us to repentance when we have treated lightly what God holds sacred.