2 Kings 4:40

³⁸ When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the sons of the prophets were sitting at his feet, he said to his attendant, “Put on the large pot and boil some stew for the sons of the prophets.”

³⁹ One of them went out to the field to gather herbs, and he found a wild vine from which he gathered as many wild gourds as his garment could hold. Then he came back and cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were.

And they poured it out for the men to eat, but when they tasted the stew they cried out, “There is death in the pot, O man of God!” And they could not eat it.

⁴¹ Then Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Pour it out for the people to eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

⁴² Now a man from Baal-shalishah came to the man of God with a sack of twenty loaves of barley bread from the first ripe grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” said Elisha.

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: And they poured it out for the men to eat, but when they tasted the stew they cried out, “There is death in the pot, O man of God!” And they could not eat it.
KJV: So they poured out for the men 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. And they could not eat thereof.
WEB: So they poured out for the men to eat. As they were eating some of the stew, they cried out and said, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.
ASV: So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof.
DARBY: And they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out and said, Man of God, there is death in the pot! And they could not eat [it].
BLB: And they served it to the men to eat, and it came to pass as they were eating the stew, that they cried out and said, “Death [is] in the pot, O man of God.” And they could not eat [it].

ÅB: Så øste de opp for mennene for at de skulle spise; men da de begynte å spise av retten, skrek de opp og ropte: Det er død i gryten, du Guds mann! Og de kunne ikke spise.
OTB: Så serverte de det til mennene for å spise. Men mens de spiste stuingen, ropte de ut og sa, "Guds mann, det er død i gryten!" Og de kunne ikke spise det.
B1930: Så øste de op for mennene forat de skulde ete; men da de begynte å ete av retten, skrek de op og ropte: Det er død i gryten, du Guds mann! Og de kunde ikke ete.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Mark 16:18
they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.”
Read in context
Exodus 15:23
And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the water there because it was bitter. (That is why it was named Marah.)
Read in context
Exodus 10:17
Now please forgive my sin once more and appeal to the LORD your God, that He may remove this death from me.”
Read in context
2 Kings 1:11
So the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. And the captain said to Elijah, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down at once!’”
Read in context
1 Kings 17:18
“O man of God,” said the woman to Elijah, “what have you done to me? Have you come to remind me of my iniquity and cause the death of my son?”
Read in context
2 Kings 4:9
Then the woman said to her husband, “Behold, now I know that the one who often comes our way is a holy man of God.
Read in context
Deuteronomy 33:1
This is the blessing that Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death.
Read in context
2 Kings 1:13
So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. And the third captain went up, fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him, “Man of God, may my life and the lives of these fifty servants please be precious in your sight.
Read in context