Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have broken down your altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.”
- BSB “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well”?
- NKJV “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”?
- NASB “Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.”
- NLT “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.”
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
Elijah's complaint that Israel had killed the prophets and that he alone was left, in danger of his life.
Overview
Paul quotes Elijah's lament from 1 Kings 19:10, 14, in which the prophet felt utterly isolated amid national apostasy. The despair is genuine but mistaken in its sweep, as the next verse reveals. It models how God's servants can underestimate the extent of his preserving grace in dark times.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- 1 Kgs 19:10–18And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
- 1 Kgs 18:13Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the LORD, how I hid an hundred men of the LORD’s prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
- Neh 9:26Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.
- Jer 2:30In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
- 1 Kgs 18:4For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)
- 1 Kgs 18:30–31And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 11:3 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 Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.