1 Kings 19:3

3 Elijah was afraid^[a] and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there,

1 Kings 19:3 in Other Translations

KJV

3 And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.

ESV

3 Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

NLT

3 Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there.

MSG

3 When Elijah saw how things were, he ran for dear life to Beersheba, far in the south of Judah. He left his young servant there

CSB

3 Then Elijah became afraid and immediately ran for his life. When he came to Beer-sheba that belonged to Judah, he left his servant there,

1 Kings 19:3 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 19:3

And when he saw that
That her design and resolution were to take away his life; the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Syriac versions read, "and he was afraid"; or frightened; he that had such courage as not to be afraid to meet Ahab, and contend with four hundred and fifty priests of Baal, and in the face of all Israel, who at first were not inclined to take his part, is now terrified at the threats of a single woman; which shows that the spirit and courage he had before were of the Lord, and not of himself; and that those who have the greatest zeal and courage for religion, for God, and his worship, his truths and ordinances, if left to themselves, become weak and timorous; and whether this is the true reading, or not, it was certainly his case by what follows:

he arose and went for his life;
fled to save his life, at a time when he was much wanted to encourage and increase the reformation from idolatry, and to preserve the people from relapsing who were converted; and through the miracles that had been wrought by him, and for him, he had great reason to trust in the Lord: or "he went unto", or "according to his own soul" ^F13; according to his own mind and will, not taking counsel of God, or any direction from him; and so Abarbinel interprets it:

and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah;
to the tribe of Judah; for though it was in the inheritance of Simeon, yet that was within the tribe of Judah, ( Joshua 19:1 Joshua 19:2 ) , or to the kingdom of Judah, over which Jehoshaphat reigned, and so might think himself safe, being out of the dominions of Ahab, and reach of Jezebel; but yet he did not think so, his fears ran so high that he imagined she would send some after him to search for him, and slay him privately, or make interest with Jehoshaphat to deliver him up, there being friendship between him and Ahab; for though this place was eighty four miles from Jezreel, as Bunting ^F14 computes it, he left it:

and left his servant there;
he took him not with him, either lest he should betray him, or rather out of compassion to him, that he might not share in the miseries of life that were like to come upon him.

FOOTNOTES:

F13 (wvpn la) (kata thn quchn autou) , Sept. "secundum animam suam", Vatablus, Pagninus.
F14 Travels, ut supra. (p. 204.)

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

1 Kings 19:3 In-Context

1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”

3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there,

4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”

5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”