“Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, 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.”
- KJV Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine 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”?
- 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 19:10–18He said, “I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
- 1 Kgs 18:13Wasn’t it told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed Yahweh’s prophets, how I hid one hundred men of Yahweh’s prophets with fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
- Neh 9:26“Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, cast your law behind their back, killed your prophets that testified against them to turn them again to you, and they committed awful blasphemies.
- Jer 2:30“I have struck your children in vain. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
- 1 Kgs 18:4for when Jezebel cut off Yahweh’s prophets, Obadiah took one hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)
- 1 Kgs 18:30–31Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me!”; and all the people came near to him. He repaired Yahweh’s altar that had been thrown down.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.