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Romans 11:3

in Romans 11

“Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well”?

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Lord, they have killed thy prophets, they have digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.

KJV

Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.

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This verse in Romans 11

Commentary

11 notes on this verse
Lord, they have killed thy prophets,.... By the order of Jezebel, wife of Ahab king of Israel, 1Ki 18:4. This sin of slaying the prophets of the Lord is charged upon the Jews by Christ, Mat 23:31, and by the apostle, 1Th 2:15. In the text in 1Ki 19:14, it is added, "with the sword": which expresses the manner of death they were put to; and this clause is there put after the following, according to a rule of transposition among the Jews; See Gill on Mat 27:

This site's exposition

did God reject His people

on Romans 11:1-4

Paul answers whether God rejected His people with his flattest no, then points to himself, an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin. Elijah thought he was the only one left, and God answered with seven thousand men He had kept for Himself.

This site's exposition

they have killed Your prophets

Elijah appealed against Israel in 1 Kings 19:10, and Barnes says Paul keeps the sense of the prophet's words. Gill traces the killing of the prophets to Jezebel's order at 1 Kings 18:4. Elijah thought himself the only one left.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers3 voices

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on Romans 18 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

"He hath not cast off His people, whom He foreknew." As though he said, I have with me three, five, or ten thousand. What then? has the people come to be three, five, or ten thousand? that seed that compared with the stars of heaven for multitude, or the sand of the sea? Is this the way you deceive us and put a cheat upon us, by making the whole people thyself and the few that are with thee; and didst thou inflate us with idle hopes, and say that the promise has been fulfilled, when all are lost, and the salvation comes down to a few? This is all bombast and vanity! we cannot away with such sophistry as this. Now, that they may not say this, see how in the sequel he proceeds to the answer, not giving the objection indeed, but before it grounding the answer to it upon ancient history. What then is the answer? "Wot ye not," he says, "what the Scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed Thy prophets, and digged down Thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace." What he means is nearly this. "God hath not cast off His people." For had He done so, He would have admitted none of them. But if He did admit some, He hath not cast them off. Still it is said, if He had not cast off, He would have admitted all. This does not follow; since in Elijah's time the part to be saved had come down to "seven thousand:" and now also there are probably many that believe. But if you do not know who they are, this is no wonder, for that prophet, who was so great and good a man, did not know. But God ordered things for Himself when even the prophet knew them not. […]

A commentator

Origen of Alexandria

COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS · Written before 253.

proposed

But lest it should seem a small thing that he taught by his own example that the people of God had not been cast off, the Apostle seeks stronger examples, and says: "Or do you not know what the Scripture says in Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel? Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have dug down your altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what does the divine answer say to him?"

A commentator

Diodorus of Tarsus

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH · Written before 390.

proposed

Paul takes these words of Elijah and applies them by analogy to the Savior, in that only a remnant obtained the grace of the promise.

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Romans · Written before 1274.

proposed

In this intervention Isaiah alleges two things against them. First, the impiety they committed against the worship of God. In one way, by persecuting his ministers, to which he refers when he says: Lord, they have slain your prophets: has it not been told my …

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Commentary on Romans · Written before 1107.

proposed

The Apostle could have been objected to: what are you saying, Paul? Do you really consider the people who are likened to sand and stars to consist of three thousand, five thousand, a great multitude of people? Therefore he says: even in the time of …
3 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

Lord, they have killed ... - This is taken from 1Ki 19:10. The quotation is not literally made, but the sense is preserved. This was a charge which Elijah brought against the whole nation; and the act of killing the prophets he regarded as expressive of the character of the people, or that they were universally given to wickedness. The fact was true that they had killed the prophets, etc.; 1Ki 18:4, 1Ki 18:13; but the inference which Elijah seems to have drawn from it, that there were no pious people in the nation, was not well founded.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Wot--that is, "Know" ye not that the scripture saith of--literally, "in," that is, in the section which relates to Elias? how he maketh intercession--"pleadeth" against Israel--(The word "saying," which follows, as also the particle "and" before "digged down," should be omitted, as without manuscript authority).

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Lord, they have killed thy prophets - They will not permit any person to speak unto them in thy name; and they murder those who are faithful to the commission which they have received from thee. Digged down thine altars - They are profligate and profane beyond example, and retain not the slightest form of religion. I am left alone - There is no prophet besides myself left, and they seek to destroy me.

The words behind it

17 Greek words

Every Greek 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.

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

Related verses

7 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

1 Kings 19:10–18“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.”27 works1 Kings 18:13Was it not reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel slaughtered the prophets of the LORD? I hid a hundred prophets of the LORD, fifty men per cave, and I provided them with food and water.6 worksNehemiah 9:26But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.5 worksJeremiah 2:30“I have struck your sons in vain; they accepted no discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a voracious lion.”4 works1 Kings 18:4for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)4 works1 Kings 18:30–31Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people approached him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD that had been torn down.3 works
The other 1 cross-references, with their words ▾
1 Kings 18:22Then Elijah said to the people, “I am the only remaining prophet of the LORD, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets.2 works

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

    1 Kings 18:13

    Was it not reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel slaughtered the prophets of the LORD? I hid a hundred prophets of the LORD, fifty men per cave, and I provided them…

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 18:4

      for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Matthew 25:35

      For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in,

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Nehemiah 9:26

    But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 14:9

      You have done more evil than all who came before you. You have proceeded to make for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke Me, and you have flung Me behind your back.

    • Judges 2:11–12

      And the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals.

    • Nehemiah 9:18

      Even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and when they committed terrible blasphemies,

  • Through

    Jeremiah 2:30

    “I have struck your sons in vain; they accepted no discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a voracious lion.”

    it leads to

    • Nehemiah 9:26

      But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.

    • Acts 7:52

      Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—

  • Through

    1 Kings 18:4

    for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 18:13

      Was it not reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel slaughtered the prophets of the LORD? I hid a hundred prophets of the LORD, fifty men per cave, and I provided them…

Where this verse is studied

About Romans

Saint Paul Writing His Epistles, Valentin de Boulogne, about 1618 to 1620, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Public domain.
Saint Paul Writing His Epistles, Valentin de Boulogne, about 1618 to 1620, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Public domain.
Romans: the study guide →Read Romans 11 →
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Diodorus of Tarsus, PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on Romans 18; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS; Robert Haldane, Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Romans and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Romans.

Read on in Romans 11 →