When Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?”
Parallel translations
- WEB When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”
- KJV And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?
- NKJV Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?”
- NASB When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is this you, the cause of disaster to Israel?”
- NLT When Ahab saw him, he exclaimed, “So, is it really you, you troublemaker of Israel?”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Ahab accuses Elijah of being the "troubler of Israel," blaming him for the nation's suffering. The king inverts the truth about who caused the calamity.
Overview
Ahab's greeting is an accusation, casting Elijah as the source of Israel's drought-stricken misery. This is a classic reversal of blame, where the wicked charge the righteous with the very harm they themselves have caused. It mirrors how God's faithful witnesses, ultimately Christ Himself, are often accused of disturbing a society that has actually abandoned God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Josh 7:25“Why have you brought this trouble upon us?” said Joshua. “Today the LORD will bring trouble upon you!” And all Israel stoned him to death. Then they stoned the others and burned their bodies.
- 1 Kgs 21:20When Elijah arrived, Ahab said to him, “So you have found me out, my enemy.” He replied, “I have found you out because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the LORD.
- Acts 16:20They brought them to the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews and are throwing our city into turmoil
- Acts 17:6But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here,
- Acts 24:5We have found this man to be a pestilence, stirring up dissension among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes,
- Amos 7:10Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words,
- Jer 38:4Then the officials said to the king, “This man ought to die, for he is discouraging the warriors who remain in this city, as well as all the people, by speaking such words to them; this man is not seeking the well-being of these people, but their ruin.”
- Jer 26:8–9and as soon as he had finished telling all the people everything the LORD had commanded him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people seized him, shouting, “You must surely die!
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Christ at the center
Solomon's glory, wisdom, and temple where God's presence dwells are a shadow of the greater Son of David — 'one greater than Solomon is here' — and of the true Temple, Christ himself.
How 1 Kings 18:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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