Elisha is walking up the road to Bethel when the boys come out of the city.

They mock him: Go up, baldhead. Go up, baldhead. Elisha turns. He looks at them. He curses them in the name of God. Two female bears come out of the woods and maul forty-two of them.

Modern readers stop here. The stopping is appropriate. Whatever explanation follows, the image of a prophet cursing young people and bears appearing to maul them is genuinely disturbing.