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1 Kings 18:44

in 1 Kings 18

On the seventh time the servant reported, “There is a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising from the sea.” And Elijah replied, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a cloud out of the sea, as small as a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Make ready thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.

KJV

And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.

This verse in 1 Kings 18

Commentary

9 notes on this verse

A commentator

Ephrem the Syrian

ON THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS 18:44 · Written before 373.

"Look, a little cloud no bigger than a person's hand is rising out of the sea." Before going up, Elijah prayed seven times. He did this, in the first place, in order to invite the people who were waiting for the rain, to meditate on …

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

Caesarius of Arles

Commentary (church-history corpus) · Written before 542.

proposed

After this blessed Elijah presented himself to the king, "went up to Mount Carmel and put his head between his knees," praying the Lord to send rain on the earth. "And he said to his servant, 'Look toward the sea.' " When the boy reported …

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

SERMON 124.5 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

After this blessed Elijah presented himself to the king, "went up to Mount Carmel and put his head between his knees," praying the Lord to send rain on the earth. "And he said to his servant, 'Look toward the sea.' " When the boy reported that he saw nothing at all, he told him, "Go and look seven times." The seventh time he returned and said, " 'I see a little cloud rising out of the sea like a person's foot.' And suddenly the heavens grew dark, and there fell a great rain." For this reason, as we said, Elijah prefigured our Lord and Savior. Elijah prayed and offered sacrifice; Christ offered himself as a spotless sacrifice for the whole world. Elijah prayed for rain to come on the earth; Christ prayed that divine grace might come down into the hearts of humankind. When Elijah told his servant, "Go and look seven times," he signified the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit that was to be given to the church. When he declared that he saw a little cloud rising out of the sea, it prefigured the body of Christ, which was to be born in the sea of this world. Therefore, lest anyone doubt, he said that the cloud had the foot of a person who said, "Who do people say the Son of man is?" After three years and six months, rain came down from heaven at the prayer of Elijah, because at the coming of our Lord and Savior the rain of the word of God happily watered the whole world during the three years and six months in which he deigned to preach. Just as at the coming of Elijah all the priests of the idols were killed and destroyed, so at the advent of the true Elijah, our Lord Jesus Christ, the wicked observances of the pagans were destroyed.

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

9 And he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me? 10 As the L ORD thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:97%@v9-10

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Great blessings often arise from small beginnings, and showers of plenty from a cloud of a span long. Let us therefore never despise the day of small things, but hope and wait for great things from it. This was not as a morning cloud, which passes away (though Israel's goodness was so), but one that produced a plentiful rain ( Ps. lxviii.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

And it came to pass at the seventh time that he said, behold there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand,....
3 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

There ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. - ככף איש kechaph ish, like the hollow of a man’s hand. In the form of the hand bent, the concave side downmost. I have witnessed a resemblance of this kind at sea previously to a violent storm, a little cloud the size of a man’s hand first appearing, and this increasing in size and density every moment, till at last it covered the whole heavens, and then burst forth with incredible fury.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand--The clearness of the sky renders the smallest speck distinctly visible; and this is in Palestine the uniform precursor of rain. It rises higher and higher, and becomes larger and larger with astonishing celerity, till the whole heaven is black, and the cloud bursts in a deluge of rain.
A little cloud ... - Sailors know full well that such a cloud on the far horizon is often the forerunner of a violent storm.

The words behind it

20 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.

  • וַֽיְהִי֙and it was

    vayhiH19613559 times

  • בַּשְּׁבִעִ֔יתat the seventh [time]

    basheviitH763798 times

  • וַיֹּ֗אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH5595305 times

  • הִנֵּה־there!

    hineh-H2009843 times

  • עָ֛בa cloud

    ʾavH5645

  • קְטַנָּ֥הsmall

    ketanahH6996101 times

  • כְּכַף־like [the] hand of

    kekhaf-H3709192 times

  • אִ֖ישׁa person

    ʾishH3761663 times

  • עֹלָ֣ה[is] coming up

    ʾolahH5927890 times

  • מִיָּ֑םfrom [the] sea

    miyamH3220396 times

  • וַיֹּ֗אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH5595305 times

  • עֲלֵ֨הgo up

    ʾalehH5927890 times

  • אֱמֹ֤רsay

    ʾemorH5595305 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • אַחְאָב֙Ahab

    ʾachavH25692 times

  • אֱסֹ֣רharness

    ʾesorH631

  • וָרֵ֔דand go down

    varedH3381381 times

  • וְלֹ֥אand not

    velo'H38085168 times

  • יַעַצָרְכָ֖הit will hold back you

    yaatzarekhahH611347 times

  • הַגָּֽשֶׁם׃the rain

    hagashemH165335 times

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

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Job 8:7

    Though your beginnings were modest, your latter days will flourish.

    it leads to

    • Job 42:12–13

      So the LORD blessed Job’s latter days more than his first. He owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.

    • Matthew 13:31–32

      He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man planted in his field.

    • Proverbs 19:20

      Listen to counsel and accept discipline, that you may be wise the rest of your days.

    • Zechariah 4:10

      For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven eyes of the LORD, which scan the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.”

    • Proverbs 4:18

      The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.

  • Through

    Zechariah 4:10

    For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven eyes of the LORD, which scan the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.”

    it leads to

    • Job 8:7

      Though your beginnings were modest, your latter days will flourish.

    • 1 Corinthians 1:28–29

      He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are,

    • 2 Chronicles 16:9

      For the eyes of the LORD roam to and fro over all the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully devoted to Him. You have acted foolishly in…

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Kings

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 124.5; Caesarius of Arles, Commentary (church-history corpus); Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS 18:44; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.