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1 Kings 18:16

in 1 Kings 18

So Obadiah went to inform Ahab, who went to meet Elijah.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

KJV

So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him: and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

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This verse in 1 Kings 18

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

We may suppose it was a great surprise to Ahab to hear that Elijah, whom he had so long sought and not found, was now found without seeking. He went in quest of grass, and found him from whose word, at God's mouth, he must expect rain. Yet his guilty conscience gave him little reason to hope for it, but, rather, to fear some other more dreadful judgment.

This site's exposition

As surely as the LORD of Hosts lives

on 1 Kings 18:15-16

Elijah swears by the title that entered Scripture at 1 Sam 1:3 and adds the formula that opened his ministry, before whom I stand. The prophet's standing is before the LORD of armies, not before Ahab, which is why he can promise to show himself to the king.

This site's exposition

who went to meet Elijah

Matthew Henry notes that Ahab went out looking for grass and found the prophet whose word governed the rain. Ahab goes to meet Elijah himself. Henry reads in the king a guilty conscience that feared a worse judgment.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him,.... That Elijah was in such a place, and had desired him to inform him of it, and was ready to appear before him that day wherever he pleased; for upon the prophet's oath Obadiah was entirely satisfied, and was in no fear of delivering the message: and Ahab went to meet Elijah; though perhaps the bold message of the prophet might make him fear he had something to say to him not very agreeable.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Art thou he that troubleth Israel--A violent altercation took place. Ahab thought to awe him into submission, but the prophet boldly and undisguisedly told the king that the national calamity was traceable chiefly to his own and his family's patronage and practice of idolatry. But, while rebuking the sins, Elijah paid all due respect to the high rank of the offender.

The words behind it

10 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֵּ֧לֶךְand he went

    vaiyelekhH1980 →1546 times

  • עֹבַדְיָ֛הוּObadiah

    ʾoadyahuH5662 →20 times

  • לִקְרַ֥אתto meet

    likratH7122 →139 times

  • אַחְאָ֖בAhab

    ʾachavH256 →92 times

  • וַיַּגֶּד־and he told

    vaiyaged-H5046 →370 times

  • ל֑וֹto him

    lo

  • וַיֵּ֥לֶךְand he went

    vaiyelekhH1980 →1546 times

  • אַחְאָ֖בAhab

    ʾachavH256 →92 times

  • לִקְרַ֥אתto meet

    likratH7122 →139 times

  • אֵלִיָּֽהוּ׃Elijah

    ʾeliyahuH452 →71 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Kings

The Prophets of Baal Are Slaughtered — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Prophets of Baal Are Slaughtered — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
1 Kings: the study guide →Read 1 Kings 18 →

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 1 Kings 18 →