2 Kings 4:40

40 They served the men to eat, but when they ate from the stew, they cried out and said, "There [is] death in the pot, [O] man of God!" They were not able to eat [it].

2 Kings 4:40 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 4:40

So they poured out for the men to eat
When the pottage was boiled, they poured it out into dishes or basins, for the sons of the prophets to eat:

and it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they
cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot;
poison, the cause of death; the pottage was so exceeding bitter, that they concluded there must be some poisonous herb in it; and coloquintida is so bitter, that it is called "the gall of the earth":

and they could not eat thereof:
they stopped eating, it being so very disagreeable, and, as they supposed, dangerous.

2 Kings 4:40 In-Context

38 So Elisha returned to Gilgal. Now the famine [was] in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. He said to his servant, put on the large pot and cook a stew for the sons of the prophets.

39 One went out to the field to gather herbs, and he found a {wild vine} and gathered wild gourds from it [and] filled his cloak. Then he came and cut them into the pot of stew, but they did not know [what they were].

40 They served the men to eat, but when they ate from the stew, they cried out and said, "There [is] death in the pot, [O] man of God!" They were not able to eat [it].

41 Then he said, "Bring [some] flour," and he threw it into the pot. He then said, "Serve the people and let them eat." There was nothing harmful in the pot.

42 A man came from Baal-Shalishah and brought food to the man of God: firstfruits and twenty loaves of barley bread, with ripe grain in his sack. He said, "Give [it] to the people and let them eat."