Bible Strands
2 Kings 4:41
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Elisha gives instructions to his servants at the moment when the prophet company discovers poison in their cooking pot and refuses to eat. He commands them to fetch flour, cast it into the stew, and serve it to the group.
The words — The Hebrew קֶ֔מַח (Ke.mach) literally means flour, which Elisha orders his men to retrieve and throw into the pot to neutralize the poison.
The thread — This action of purifying a toxic vessel echoes Moses casting a log into bitter waters at Elim (Exodus 15:25) and Elisha’s earlier use of salt to heal the Jordan River’s spring (2 Kings 2:21).
Why it lands — The text records that the stew became harmless after the flour was added, requiring the reader to note that the narrative presents divine deliverance as a direct, unembellished intervention rather than a theological argument.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot.
Cross-references
- Exodus 15:25 And Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log. And when he cast it into the waters, they were sweetened. There the LORD made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He tested them,
- 2 Kings 2:21 and Elisha went out to the spring, cast the salt into it, and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘I have healed this water. No longer will it cause death or unfruitfulness.’”
- 1 Corinthians 1:25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
- 2 Kings 5:10 Then Elisha sent him a messenger, who said, “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be clean.”
- 2 Kings 6:6 “Where did it fall?” asked the man of God. And when he showed him the place, the man of God cut a stick, threw it there, and made the iron float.
- John 9:6 When Jesus had said this, He spit on the ground, made some mud, and applied it to the man’s eyes.
- Acts 28:5 But Paul shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no ill effects.