1 Kings 19:1-9

Elijah's Journey to Horeb

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

2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "May the gods punish me and do so severely if I don't make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow!"

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

4 but he went on a day's journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. He said, "[I have had] enough! Lord, take my life, for I'm no better than my fathers."

5 Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. Suddenly, an angel touched him. The angel told him, "Get up and eat."

6 Then he looked, and there at his head was a loaf of bread baked over hot stones and a jug of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again.

7 Then the angel of the Lord returned a second time and touched him. He said, "Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you."

8 So he got up, ate, and drank. Then on the strength from that food, he walked 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.

9 He entered a cave there and spent the night. Then the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

1 Kings 19:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 19

This chapter gives us a further account of Elijah, of his being obliged to flee for his life through the threats of Jezebel, 1Ki 19:1-4, of the care the Lord took of him, providing food for him, in the strength of which he went to Horeb, 1Ki 19:5-8, of the Lord's appearance to him there, and conversation with him, 1Ki 19:9-14, of some instructions he gave him to anoint a king over Syria, another over Israel, and a prophet in his room, 1Ki 19:15-18, and of his finding Elisha, and throwing his mantle over him, who left his secular employment, and followed him, and became his servant, 1Ki 19:19-21.

Footnotes

• [a] Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr, Vg; MT reads he saw