1 Kings 18:12

12 I don’t know where the Spirit of the LORD may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the LORD since my youth.

1 Kings 18:12 in Other Translations

12 And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the LORD shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the LORD from my youth.

12 And as soon as I have gone from you, the Spirit of the LORD will carry you I know not where. And so, when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, although I your servant have feared the LORD from my youth.

12 But as soon as I leave you, the Spirit of the LORD will carry you away to who knows where. When Ahab comes and cannot find you, he will kill me. Yet I have been a true servant of the LORD all my life.

12 The minute I leave you the Spirit of God will whisk you away to who knows where. Then when I report to Ahab, you'll have disappeared and Ahab will kill me. And I've served God devoutly since I was a boy!

12 But when I leave you, the Spirit of the Lord may carry you off to some place I don't know. Then when I go report to Ahab and he doesn't find you, he will kill me. But [I], your servant, have feared the Lord from my youth.

1 Kings 18:12 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 18:12

And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee,
that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not
This he supposed might possibly, and very probably, be the case, since small raptures might have been already, and known to Obadiah, as there were afterwards, see ( 2 Kings 2:16 ) ( Ezekiel 3:12 Ezekiel 3:14 ) ( Acts 8:39 ) , and then he should not know where he was, nor be able to direct his master where to find him: and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall
slay me;
for telling him a lie, and deceiving and mocking him; or for not seizing on Elijah, and bringing him, when he knew he was so desirous of getting him into his hands: but I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth;
and therefore did not deserve to be treated after this manner, having been an early and conscientious worshipper of the true God.

1 Kings 18:12 In-Context

10 As surely as the LORD your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you.

11 But now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’

12 I don’t know where the Spirit of the LORD may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the LORD since my youth.

13 Haven’t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the LORD? I hid a hundred of the LORD’s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water.

14 And now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ He will kill me!”

Cross References

• 1. 2 Kings 2:16; Ezekiel 3:14; Acts 8:39