The main point of the story, however, is not that Yahweh picks on children but rather that Yahweh protected the life of Elisha. To add support to the idea that Elisha’s life was in danger from this gang of over forty teenagers, a series of manuscripts of the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testament) records that the boys also threw stones at Elisha, which could easily have killed an old man. A cynic might say the Septuagint just added the details about the stoning of Elisha to justify his violent reaction, but it is more reasonable to assume that Elisha had a strong reason to be
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