1 Kings 18:30-40

30 [And] Elijah said to all the people, Come ye to me. And when the people came to him, he arrayed the altar of the Lord, that was destroyed. (And Elijah said to all the people, Come ye close to me. And when the people came close to him, he repaired the altar of the Lord that was destroyed.)
31 And he took twelve stones, by the number of the lineages of the sons of Jacob, to which Jacob the word of the Lord was made, and said, Israel shall be thy name.
32 And he builded an altar of stones, in the name of the Lord, and he made a leading-to of water, either a ditch (and he made a leading-to, or a ditch, for the water), as by two little ditches, or furrows, in the compass of the altar .
33 And he dressed [the] wood, and he parted the ox by (its) members, and put it upon the wood, and said, Fill ye four pots with water, and pour ye it upon the burnt sacrifice (to be), and upon the wood.
34 And again he said, Also the second time do ye this. And they did (it) the second time. And he said, Do ye the same thing the third time; and they did (it) the third time.
35 And the waters ran about the altar, and the ditch, or rut, of [the] leading-to of water was filled. (And the water ran about the altar, and the ditch, or the rut, of the leading-to for the water, was completely filled.)
36 And when the time was then, that the burnt sacrifice should be offered, Elijah the prophet nighed, and said, Lord God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, show thou today that thou art God of Israel, and that I am thy servant, and have done all these words by thy commandment. (And when it was the time, that the burnt sacrifice should be offered, Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel, or Jacob, show thou today that thou art the God of Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things by thy commandment.)
37 Lord, hear thou me; Lord, hear thou me; that this people learn, that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast converted again the heart of them. (Lord, hear thou me; Lord, hear thou me; so that this people shall learn that thou art the Lord God, and thou shalt turn their hearts back to thee again.)
38 Soothly [the] fire of the Lord felled down then, and devoured the burnt sacrifice, the wood, and the stones, and it licked up also the powder, and the water that was in the leading-(to), (or the rut,) of (the) water. (Then the fire of the Lord fell down, and devoured the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and it also licked up the water that was in the ditch, or in the rut, for the water.)
39 And when all the people had seen this, the people felled into his face (the people fell down on their faces), and said, The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.
40 And Elijah said to them, Take ye the prophets of Baal; not one soothly escape of them. And when they had taken them, Elijah led them to the strand of Kishon, and killed them there. (And Elijah said to them, Take ye hold of the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape. And when they had taken hold of them, Elijah led them to the Kishon Stream/to the Kishon Gorge, and they killed them there.)

1 Kings 18:30-40 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 18

In this chapter Elijah has an order from the Lord to show himself to Ahab, who, going first, and meeting with a servant of his, Obadiah, charges him to tell his master where he was, that he might meet him, 1Ki 18:1-16, and, upon meeting him, desires that all Israel, and the prophets of Baal, might be convened, which was accordingly done, 1Ki 18:17-20, when he expostulated with the people of Israel for their idolatry, mocked and confounded the prophets of Baal, and gave the strongest proofs, to the conviction of the people, that Jehovah is the true God, 1Ki 18:21-39, on which all the prophets of Baal were slain, 1Ki 18:40, and rain in great abundance was given at the prayer of the prophet, 1Ki 18:41-46.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.