1 Kings 18:4 Explained in Context

Selected verse

Verse 4. For 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.)

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Quick Meaning

This verse advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence: “For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Famine frames Ahab, Obadiah, and hidden prophets.”

In the third year Elijah is sent to Ahab, and famine is severe

This verse is one part of that explanation in 1 Kings 18:1–6. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.

Read It With

1 Kings 18:1–6

Read 1 Kings 18:4 with 18:1–6. The selected wording supplies one step in the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Opens the third year with the promise of rain and the command that Elijah face Ahab; divides the water-search route between Ahab and Obadiah.

Why This Verse Appears Here

Within “Famine frames Ahab, Obadiah, and hidden prophets,” 1 Kings 18:4 advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence through the wording “For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: The third-year command to appear before Ahab returns to the drought word after showing Elijah, a Sidonian widow, and her child living within its famine conditions.

Read 1 Kings 18:1–6 together

Why these verses belong together: Famine frames Ahab, Obadiah, and hidden prophets is the complete reviewed scene, prayer, oracle, list, or regnal notice bounded at 18:1–18:6.

Verse 1. And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.

Verse 2. And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria.

Verse 3. And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly:

Verse 4. For 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.)

Verse 5. And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts.

Verse 6. So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

Follow the Context

Opens the third year with the promise of rain and the command that Elijah face Ahab
Divides the water-search route between Ahab and Obadiah

What This Verse Is Not Saying

1 Kings 18:4 does not permit the wording “For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. The unit does not make national success a covenant entitlement, blame sufferers for disaster, erase the foreigner or captive, or turn prayer toward the temple into control of God.

What Remains True

Faithful care keeps bodily need, grief, danger, agency, and honest uncertainty visible rather than converting suffering into blame or a promised formula. This unit tests that truth through opens the third year with the promise of rain and the command that Elijah face Ahab; divides the water-search route between Ahab and Obadiah. In 1 Kings 18:4, the concrete line “For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.

Teach It Back

In 70–220 words, explain 1 Kings 18:4's role in 18:1–6. Paraphrase “For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred…,” identify one agent or affected person, state one material source or historical limit, and name one conclusion the context does not authorize.

Explain the verse in context

Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.

Continue in Context

Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.

Read 1 Kings 18:1–6 — Famine frames Ahab, Obadiah, and hidden prophets

Sources used for this Verse Lens

How certain is this explanation? probable

These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.

Exact location: 1 Kings 18:1–6, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus

Open source ↗

hebrew text and morphology

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Kings

Open Scriptures

Open Scriptures, release 2.2

Supports: Hebrew wording and morphology used for lexical, grammatical, name, clause, and older-English checks; this is not a critical apparatus or historical proof.

Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 18:1–6

Open source ↗

translation and translator notes

NET Bible: 1 Kings with translators' notes

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, 2006

Supports: Only printed unit-level translation, lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and verse-numbering notes; silence is not evidence.

Exact location: NET Bible 1 Kings PDF, printed pp. 619–621, translation and translator notes for 18:1–6

Open source ↗

Open the complete thought-unit research record