The wild gourd appears in the Bible in 2 Kings 4:39, where one of Elisha's followers unknowingly gathered its fruit and added it to a stew during a famine. When people tasted it, they cried out, "There is death in the pot!" because of its extreme bitterness and potential toxicity. Most scholars identify this plant as Citrullus colocynthis (colocynth or bitter apple), a vine that spreads along the ground or climbs over shrubs and fences.
The colocynth fruit looks like a small, round gourd and contains a spongy, bitter pulp. In large amounts, it can cause severe stomach distress and act as a strong laxative.
Some scholars suggest that the bitterness of colocynth may explain why the Bible sometimes uses the word "gall" (rosh in Hebrew) as a symbol of extreme bitterness or poison (Psalm 69:21; Lamentations 3:5, 19; Matthew 27:34).
See also Gourd.
Aquifer Open Bible Dictionary © 2026 Mission Mutual, an adaptation of the Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.