2:23 He went up from there to Bethel.29 As he was traveling up the road, some young boys30 came out of the city and made fun of him, saying, “Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!”
tn The word נַעַר (na’ar), here translated “boy,” can refer to a broad age range, including infants as well as young men. But the qualifying term “young” (or “small”) suggests these youths were relatively young. The phrase in question (“young boy”) occurs elsewhere in 1 Sam 20:35; 1 Kgs 3:7 (used by Solomon in an hyperbolic manner); 11:17; 2 Kgs 5:14; and Isa 11:6.