1 Kings 18:42

42 So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.

1 Kings 18:42 in Other Translations

42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees,

42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees.

42 So Ahab went to eat and drink. But Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and bowed low to the ground and prayed with his face between his knees.

42 Ahab did it: got up and ate and drank. Meanwhile, Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bowed deeply in prayer, his face between his knees.

42 So Ahab went to eat and drink, but Elijah went up to the summit of Carmel. He bowed down to the ground and put his face between his knees.

1 Kings 18:42 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 18:42

So Ahab went up to eat and to drink
Up to his chariot, as some think, or rather to some place higher than that in which he now was:

and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel;
higher still, where he both might be alone, and have the opportunity of observing the clouds gathering, and the rain coming:

and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his
knees;
expressive of his humility, and of his earnestness, and vehement desire, and continued importunity, that rain might fall; for this was a posture of prayer he put himself into, and continued in; and it is certain that it was through his prayer that rain came, ( James 5:18 ) and from hence came the fable of the Grecians concerning Aeacus praying for rain in a time of drought, when it came ^F8. So the Chinese writers ^F9 report that at the prayers of their emperor Tangus, after a seven years' drought, great rains fell.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 Pausan. Attica, sive, l. 1. prope finem. Isocrat. Evagoras, p. 373.
F9 Martin. Sinic. Hist. l. 3. p. 60.

1 Kings 18:42 In-Context

40 Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.

41 And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.”

42 So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.

43 “Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked. “There is nothing there,” he said. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.”

44 The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’ ”

Cross References

• 1. ver 19-20; S 1 Samuel 12:17; James 5:18