1 Kings 18:29

29 They kept on ranting and raving until the middle of the afternoon; but no answer came, not a sound was heard.

1 Kings 18:29 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 18:29

And it came to pass when midday was past
And nothing done, no fire descended:

and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening
sacrifice;
continued praying to Baal, and singing his praises, but all to no purpose; or they behaved like madmen, as the Targum; thus they went on until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice; so that they had no interruption in their service, and had all the time they could desire to have to importune their god to do the favour for them they requested:

that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded;
no voice was heard that returned them any answer; nor was any answer made by fire, nor any regard shown to their mad gestures, and barbarous actions; and very likely the people also, by this time, paid no regard unto them, perceiving they were not able, by all their cries and methods they took, to obtain an answer.

1 Kings 18:29 In-Context

27 At noon Elijah started making fun of them: "Pray louder! He is a god! Maybe he is day-dreaming or relieving himself, or perhaps he's gone off on a trip! Or maybe he's sleeping, and you've got to wake him up!"

28 So the prophets prayed louder and cut themselves with knives and daggers, according to their ritual, until blood flowed.

29 They kept on ranting and raving until the middle of the afternoon; but no answer came, not a sound was heard.

30 Then Elijah said to the people, "Come closer to me," and they all gathered around him. He set about repairing the altar of the Lord which had been torn down.

31 He took twelve stones, one for each of the twelve tribes named for the sons of Jacob, the man to whom the Lord had given the name Israel.