2 Kings 4:38-44

Elisha Purifies the Deadly Stew

38 And Elisha came again to 1Gilgal when 2there was a famine in the land. And as 3the sons of the prophets 4were sitting before him, he said to his servant, 5"Set on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets."
39 One of them went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were.
40 And they poured out some for the men to eat. But while they were eating of the stew, they cried out, "O man of God, there is death in the pot!" And they could not eat it.
41 He said, "Then bring flour."6And he threw it into the pot and said, "Pour some out for the men, that they may eat." And there was no harm in the pot.
42 A man came from 7Baal-shalishah, 8bringing the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Elisha said, 9"Give to the men, that they may eat."
43 But his servant said, "How can I set this before a hundred men?" So he repeated, "Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and have some left.'"
44 So he set it before them. And they ate and had some left, according to the word of the LORD.

2 Kings 4:38-44 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 4

This chapter treats of the miracles of Elisha, of his multiplying a poor widow's pot of oil for the payment of her husband's debts, 2Ki 4:1-7 of obtaining a son for a Shunamitish woman, who had been very hospitable to him, 2Ki 4:8-17, of his raising up her son to life when dead, 2Ki 4:18-37, of his curing the deadly pottage made of wild gourds, 2Ki 4:38-41, and of his feeding one hundred men with twenty barley loaves, 2Ki 4:42-44.

Cross References 9

  • 1. 2 Kings 2:1
  • 2. 2 Kings 8:1
  • 3. See 2 Kings 2:3
  • 4. Deuteronomy 33:3; Luke 10:39; Acts 22:3; [2 Kings 2:3, 5]
  • 5. Ezekiel 24:3
  • 6. [2 Kings 2:21; Exodus 15:25]
  • 7. [1 Samuel 9:4]
  • 8. [1 Samuel 9:7]
  • 9. See Matthew 14:16-21; Matthew 15:32-38; Mark 6:37-44; Mark 8:4-9; Luke 9:13-17; John 6:5-13
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.