What Does 2 Kings 2:24 Mean in the King James?
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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse binds the LORD’s nature to a spoken curse, then places the tearing of forty-two children directly after it.
THE MEANING
You encounter a curse spoken in the LORD’s name, followed by two she-bears tearing forty-two children. The verse gives no pause to explain the violence or soften what the bodies undergo.
THE ROOT
וַיְקַלְלֵם
wayqallelēm
GROWS FROM
קלל
To be light or slight; in the intensive form, to make light of, treat with contempt, or curse.
English “cursed” hides a root whose range includes making light of someone or treating them with contempt. Here that spoken contempt is followed by grave bodily harm, while the verse leaves the relation between them stark and unexplained.
ALSO GROWS
qal: Light, slight.
קַל
This branch reveals the root’s sense of lightness beneath the curse: the speech treats its target with contempt.
qĕlālāh: Curse, cursing.
קְלָלָה
This noun carries the same root into the curse itself, showing that the word Elisha speaks belongs to a wider family of contemptuous speech.
וַתְּבַקַּעְנָה
vattevaqqaʿnāh
GROWS FROM
בקע
To split, cleave, or break open.
The English “tare” can sound like ordinary tearing, while the underlying verb means to split or cleave open. Its use for divided waters and split ground gives the violence a rupture-like force; those other uses do not make the harm gentler.
ALSO GROWS
wayyibbāqəʿū: They were split open; used of the waters being divided (Exodus 14:21).
וַיִּבָּקְעוּ
The same root describes a division forced through a body of water, showing its vivid sense of something being opened apart.
vattibbāqa: It split apart; used of the ground splitting (Numbers 16:31).
וַתִּבָּקַע
The same verb for ground splitting makes the root’s physical force clear: it names a rupture, not a mild scrape.
THE PATTERN
Scripture treats blessing and cursing as consequential speech, not empty wording.
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.THE THREAD
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.The verb translated “cursed” here and “curseth” in Genesis share קלל (q-l-l), whose range includes “be light” and “treat with contempt.” Genesis places the same root within a blessing-and-curse relation, clarifying the force of Elisha’s speech while leaving the violence that follows unresolved.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us