2 Kings 4:38-44

The Poisonous Stew

38 When Elisha returned to ¹Gilgal, there was ²a famine in the land. As ³the sons of the prophets ⁴were sitting before him, he said to his servant, "⁵Put on the large pot and boil stew for the sons of the prophets."

39 Then one 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 sliced them into the pot of stew, for they did not know what they were.

40 So they poured it out for the men to eat. And as they were eating of the stew, they cried out and said, "O man of God, there is ⁶death in the pot." And they were unable * to eat.

41 But he said, "Now bring meal." ⁷He threw it into the pot and said, "Pour it out for the people that they may eat." Then there was no harm in the pot.

42 Now a man came from Baal-shalishah, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And he said, "⁸Give them to the people that they may eat."

43 His attendant said, "What, ⁹will I set this before a hundred men?" But he said, "Give them to the people that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and have some left over.' "

44 So he set it before them, and they ate and ¹⁰had some left over, 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

• 1. 2 Kings 2:1
• 2. 2 Kings 8:1
• 3. 2 Kings 2:3
• 4. Luke 10:39; Acts 22:3
• 5. Ezek 11:3, 7, 11; Ezekiel 24:3
• 6. Exodus 10:17
• 7. Exodus 15:25; 2 Kings 2:21
• 8. Matthew 14:16-21; Matthew 15:32-38
• 9. Luke 9:13; John 6:9
• 10. Matthew 14:20; Matthew 15:37; John 6:13

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "And"