When all the people saw this, they fell facedown and said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!”
Parallel translations
- WEB When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces. They said, “Yahweh, he is God! Yahweh, he is God!”
- KJV And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
- NKJV Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”
- NASB When all the people saw this, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God!”
- NLT And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The Lord—he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!”
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
Seeing the fire, all the people fall on their faces, confessing twice that Yahweh is God. The contest produces a clear verdict and confession.
Overview
The people's repeated cry, "Yahweh, he is God," is the climactic confession the whole event aimed at. Faced with undeniable evidence, the nation acknowledges the true God. Their response shows how God's self-revelation can break through unbelief and draw a wavering people to genuine worship.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 1 Kgs 18:24Then you may call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The God who answers by fire, He is God.” And all the people answered, “What you say is good.”
- 2 Chr 7:3When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD: “For He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.”
- 1 Kgs 18:21Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people did not answer a word.
- 1 Chr 21:16When David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.
- Acts 4:16“What shall we do with these men?” they asked. “It is clear to everyone living in Jerusalem that a remarkable miracle has occurred through them, and we cannot deny it.
- Judg 13:20When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground.
- John 5:35John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you were willing for a season to bask in his light.
- Acts 2:37When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 18:39 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.