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mannafest.faith

1 Kings 19:14

in 1 Kings 19

“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And he said, I have been very jealous for Jehovah, the God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

KJV

And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

This verse in 1 Kings 19

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

These separate altars, though breaking in upon the unity of the church, yet, being erected and attended by those that sincerely aimed at the glory of God and served him faithfully, the seeming schism was excused. God owned them for his altars, as well as that at Jerusalem, and the putting of them down is charged upon Israel as a crying sin.

This site's exposition

wrapped his face in his mantle

on 1 Kings 19:13-14

Elijah covers his face before the voice speaks, the same instinct that made Moses hide his face at the burning bush, afraid to look upon God. Asked the identical question a second time, he gives the identical answer, word for word, from I have been very jealous to I, even I only, am left: the display at Horeb has not moved him from his complaint. The mantle he wraps around his own face here is the same garment about to be laid on a successor six verses later.

This site's exposition

torn down Your altars

Matthew Henry notes that these altars stood outside Jerusalem, raised in the north by faithful worshippers of the LORD. God counted them as His own, and their destruction is charged to Israel as a sin. The altar Elijah repaired on Carmel at 18:30 was one of them.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ephrem the Syrian

ON THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS 19:13 · Written before 373.

proposed

"When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?' He answered, 'I have been very zealous for …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And he said,.... Elijah, in answer to the question put, and he says the same as before: I have been very jealous,.... which the question was designed to draw from him, in order to give him some instructions and directions; which would suggest to him, that though he should not deal severely with Israel, nor with Ahab and his house, yet he would hereafter by the kings he should anoint over Syria and Israel, and by the prophet he should anoint in his room, as instruments of his vengeance.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

In the solitude of Sinai, God appeared to instruct him. "What doest thou here, Elijah?" was a searching question addressed to one who had been called to so arduous and urgent a mission as his.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

He wrapped his face. [Targum Yonoson rendered,] “and he wrapped his face,” 8 In the same manner that Moshe covered his face at the “burning bush” in Shemos:6. and so it states, “wrapped up [לוטה] in a cloth.” 9 I Shmuel:10.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on I Kings 19:13:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

25 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.

  • וַיֹּאמֶר֩and he said

    vaiyomerH5595305 times

  • קַנֹּ֨אcertainly <to be zealous>

    kano'H706534 times

  • קִנֵּ֜אתִיI have been zealous

    kinetiH706534 times

  • לַיהוָ֣ה׀for Yahweh

    layahwehH30686520 times

  • אֱלֹהֵ֣י[the] God of

    ʾeloheiH4302601 times

  • צְבָא֗וֹתhosts

    tzevaotH6635485 times

  • כִּֽי־for

    ki-H35884482 times

  • עָזְב֤וּthey have forsaken

    ʾazevuH5800215 times

  • בְרִֽיתְךָ֙covenant your

    veritekhaH1285284 times

  • בְּנֵ֣י[the] people of

    beneiH11214930 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael

    yisraelH34782507 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • מִזְבְּחֹתֶ֣יךָaltars your

    mizbechoteikhaH4196401 times

  • הָרָ֔סוּthey have torn down

    harasuH204043 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH85310935 times

  • נְבִיאֶ֖יךָprophets your

    nevieikhaH5030314 times

  • הָרְג֣וּthey have killed

    hareguH2026167 times

  • בֶחָ֑רֶבwith the sword

    vecharevH2719413 times

  • וָאִוָּתֵ֤רand I am left

    vaivaterH3498106 times

  • אֲנִי֙I

    ʾaniH589874 times

  • לְבַדִּ֔יto alone me

    levadiH905200 times

  • וַיְבַקְשׁ֥וּand they have sought

    vayvakshuH1245225 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • נַפְשִׁ֖יlife my

    nafshiH5315754 times

  • לְקַחְתָּֽהּ׃ סto take away it

    lekachtahH3947966 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

    Hebrews 8:9

    It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not abide by…

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 31:32

      It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke, though I was…

  • Through

    Isaiah 1:4

    Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children of depravity! They have forsaken the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on…

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 5:24

      Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected…

    • Jeremiah 2:17

      Have you not brought this on yourself by forsaking the LORD your God when He led you in the way?

    • Jeremiah 2:13

      “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

  • Through

    Hosea 6:7

    But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there they were unfaithful to Me.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 3:11

      “Who told you that you were naked?” asked the LORD God. “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

    • Hosea 5:7

      They have been unfaithful to the LORD; for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the New Moon will devour them along with their land.

    • Hosea 8:1

      Put the ram’s horn to your lips! An eagle looms over the house of the LORD, because the people have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.

    • Job 31:33

      if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Kings

Elijah Is Nourished by an Angel — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Elijah Is Nourished by an Angel — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS 19:13; 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 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.