Romans 11:3

3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”[a] ?

Romans 11:3 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
English Standard Version (ESV)
3 "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life."
New Living Translation (NLT)
3 “ LORD, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”
The Message Bible (MSG)
3 God, they murdered your prophets, They trashed your altars; I'm the only one left and now they're after me!
American Standard Version (ASV)
3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, they have digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
3 "Lord, they've killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I'm the only one left, and they're trying to take my life."
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
3 Lord, they have killed Your prophets, torn down Your altars; and I am the only one left, and they are trying to take my life!
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
3 He said, "Lord, they have killed your prophets. They have torn down your altars. I'm the only one left. And they are trying to kill me."(1 Kings 19:10,14)

Romans 11:3 Meaning and Commentary

Romans 11:3

Lord, they have killed thy prophets
By the order of Jezebel, wife of Ahab king of Israel, ( 1 Kings 18:4 ) . This sin of slaying the prophets of the Lord is charged upon the Jews by Christ, ( Matthew 23:31 Matthew 23:37 ) , and by the apostle, ( 1 Thessalonians 2:15 ) . In the text in ( 1 Kings 19:14 ) , it is added, "with the sword": which expresses the manner of death they were put to; and this clause is there put after the following, according to a rule of transposition among the Jews; (See Gill on Matthew 27:10).

And digged down thine altars;
either the altars which the patriarchs had formerly built, and were still in being; and though not used, yet were kept and had in great veneration; wherefore the pulling of them down was done in contempt of them, and of the worship of God, which had been formerly performed there; or else such altars, which the religious among the ten tribes built, since the times of Jeroboam, who forbad them to go up to Jerusalem, but ordered them to go to Dan or Bethel; which they not choosing to do erected altars in different places for divine service, and which the Jews F18 say were allowed; for from that time, the prohibition of altars at other places than at Jerusalem ceased:

and I am left alone:
meaning either as a prophet, not knowing that Obadiah had hid an hundred prophets by fifty in a cave, ( 1 Kings 18:4 ) ; or else as a worshipper of the true God, imagining that he was the only person in Israel, that had a true zeal for the Lord of hosts:

and they seek my life;
lay in wait for it, Jezebel by her emissaries being in quest of him; it is added in ( 1 Kings 19:14 ) , "to take it away"; for she had swore by her gods, that by the morrow about that time, his life should be as the life of one of the prophets of Baal he had slain; and in one copy it is added here.


FOOTNOTES:

F18 Kimchi in 1 Kings xviii. 30.

Romans 11:3 In-Context

1 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel:
3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me” ?
4 And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.

Cross References 1

  • 1. 1 Kings 19:10,14

Footnotes 1

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