1 Kings 18:1

Bible in Basic English (1941)

Now after a long time, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, Go and let Ahab see you, so that I may send rain on the earth.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַיְהִי֙ יָמִ֣ים רַבִּ֔ים וּדְבַר־יְהוָ֗ה הָיָה֙ אֶל־אֵ֣לִיָּ֔הוּ בַּשָּׁנָ֥ה הַשְּׁלִישִׁ֖ית לֵאמֹ֑ר לֵ֚ךְ הֵרָאֵ֣ה אֶל־אַחְאָ֔ב וְאֶתְּנָ֥ה מָטָ֖ר עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הָאֲדָמָֽה

Transliteration

And wayəhî yāmîm rabbîm and dəbar-YHWH hāyāh to-ʾēlîyāhû in-the-šānāh the-šəlîšît lēʾmōr lēk hērāʾēh to-ʾaḥʾāb and-ʾettənāh māṭār upon-pənê the-ʾădāmāh

Grammar Details

• *wayəhî*: conjunction + qal imperfect 3ms - and it came to pass/and it happened
• *yāmîm*: noun masculine plural - days
• *rabbîm*: adjective masculine plural - many
• *dəbar*: noun masculine singular construct - word/matter of
• *YHWH*: divine name - LORD/Yahweh
• *hāyāh*: qal perfect 3ms - was/happened/came
• *ʾēlîyāhû*: proper name - Elijah
• *šānāh*: noun feminine singular - year
• *šəlîšît*: adjective feminine singular - third
• *lēʾmōr*: preposition + qal infinitive construct - saying
• *lēk*: qal imperative masculine singular - go
• *hērāʾēh*: niphal imperative masculine singular - show yourself/appear
• *ʾaḥʾāb*: proper name - Ahab
• *ʾettənāh*: conjunction + qal imperfect 1cs cohortative - and I will give
• *māṭār*: noun masculine singular - rain
• *pənê*: noun masculine plural construct - face/surface of
• *ʾădāmāh*: noun feminine singular - ground/earth/land

Word Meanings

• *wayəhî*: and it happened/and it came to pass
• *dəbar*: word/speech/command/matter
• *hāyāh*: came/was/happened
• *lēʾmōr*: saying/to say
• *hērāʾēh*: show yourself/appear/be seen
• *ʾettənāh*: I will give/I will send/I will allow

Referenced Verses

• Luke 4:25 : 25 Truly I say to you, There were a number of widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months and there was no food in the land;
• Jas 5:17 : 17 Elijah was a man of flesh and blood as we are, and he made a strong prayer that there might be no rain; and there was no rain on the earth for three years and six months.
• 1 Kgs 17:1 : 1 And Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, By the living Lord, the God of Israel, whose servant I am, there will be no dew or rain in these years, but only at my word.
• Deut 28:12 : 12 Opening his store-house in heaven, the Lord will send rain on your land at the right time, blessing all the work of your hands: other nations will make use of your wealth, and you will have no need of theirs.
• Lev 26:4 : 4 Then I will give you rain at the right time, and the land will give her increase and the trees of the field will give their fruit;
• Rev 11:6 : 6 These have the power to keep the heaven shut, so that there may be no rain in the days when they are prophets: and they have power over the waters to make them into blood, and to send every sort of disease on the earth as their pleasure is.
• 1 Kgs 17:7 : 7 Now after a time the stream became dry, because there was no rain in the land.
• 1 Kgs 17:15 : 15 So she went and did as Elijah said; and she and he and her family had food for a long time.
• 1 Kgs 18:2 : 2 So Elijah went to let Ahab see him. Now there was no food to be had in Samaria.
• 1 Kgs 18:15-40 : 15 And Elijah said, By the life of the Lord of armies, whose servant I am, I will certainly let him see me today. 16 So Obadiah went to Ahab and gave him the news; and Ahab went to see Elijah. 17 And when he saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, Is it you, you troubler of Israel? 18 Then he said in answer, I have not been troubling Israel, but you and your family; because, turning away from the orders of the Lord, you have gone after the Baals. 19 Now send, and get Israel together before me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal who get their food at Jezebel's table. 20 So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and got the prophets together at Mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you go on balancing between two opinions? if the Lord is God, then give worship to him; but if Baal, give worship to him. And the people said not a word in answer. 22 Then Elijah said to the people, I, even I, am the only living prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. 23 Now, let them give us two oxen; and let them take one for themselves, and have it cut up, and put it on the wood, but put no fire under it; I will get the other ox ready, and put it on the wood, and put no fire under it. 24 And do you make prayers to your god, and I will make a prayer to the Lord: and it will be clear that the one who gives an answer by fire is God. And all the people in answer said, It is well said. 25 Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, Take one ox for yourselves and get it ready first, for there are more of you; and make your prayers to your god, but put no fire under. 26 So they took the ox which was given them, and made it ready, crying out to Baal from morning till the middle of the day, and saying, O Baal, give ear to us. But there was no voice and no answer. And they were jumping up and down before the altar they had made. 27 And in the middle of the day, Elijah made sport of them, saying, Give louder cries, for he is a god; he may be deep in thought, or he may have gone away for some purpose, or he may be on a journey, or by chance he is sleeping and has to be made awake. 28 So they gave loud cries, cutting themselves with knives and swords, as was their way, till the blood came streaming out all over them. 29 And from the middle of the day they went on with their prayers till the time of the offering; but there was no voice, or any answer, or any who gave attention to them. 30 Then Elijah said to all the people, Come near to me; and all the people came near. And he put up again the altar of the Lord which had been broken down. 31 And Elijah took twelve stones, the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the Lord had said, Israel will be your name: 32 And with the stones he made an altar to the name of the Lord; and he made a deep drain all round the altar, great enough to take two measures of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order, and, cutting up the ox, put it on the wood. Then he said, Get four vessels full of water and put it on the burned offering and on the wood. And he said, Do it a second time, and they did it a second time; 34 And he said, Do it a third time, and they did it a third time. 35 And the water went all round the altar, till the drain was full. 36 Then at the time of the offering, Elijah the prophet came near and said, O Lord, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be seen this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things by your order. 37 Give me an answer, O Lord, give me an answer, so that this people may see that you are God, and that you have made their hearts come back again. 38 Then the fire of the Lord came down, burning up the offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and drinking up the water in the drain. 39 And when the people saw it, they all went down on their faces, and said, The Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God. 40 And Elijah said to them, Take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them get away. So they took them, and Elijah made them go down to the stream Kishon, and put them to death there.
• Ps 65:9-9 : 9 You have given your blessing to the earth, watering it and making it fertile; the river of God is full of water: and having made it ready, you give men grain. 10 You make the ploughed lands full of water; you make smooth the slopes: you make the earth soft with showers, sending your blessing on its growth. 11 The year is crowned with the good you give; life-giving rain is dropping from your footsteps, 12 Falling on the grass of the waste land: and the little hills are glad on every side. 13 The grass-land is thick with flocks; the valleys are full of grain; they give glad cries and songs of joy.
• Isa 5:6 : 6 And I will make it waste; its branches will not be touched with the knife, or the earth worked with the spade; but blackberries and thorns will come up in it: and I will give orders to the clouds not to send rain on it.
• Jer 10:13 : 13 At the sound of his voice there is a massing of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mists go up from the ends of the earth; he makes the thunder-flames for the rain, and sends out the wind from his store-houses.
• Jer 14:22 : 22 Are any of the false gods of the nations able to make rain come? are the heavens able to give showers? are you not he, O Lord our God? so we will go on waiting for you, for you have done all these things.
• Joel 2:23 : 23 Be glad, then, you children of Zion, and have joy in the Lord your God: for he gives you food in full measure, making the rain come down for you, the early and the late rain as at the first.
• Amos 4:7 : 7 And I have kept back the rain from you, when it was still three months before the grain-cutting: I sent rain on one town and kept it back from another: one part was rained on, and the part where there was no rain became a waste.
• Rev 11:2 : 2 But do not take the measure of the space outside the house; because it has been given to the nations: and the holy town will be under their feet for forty-two months.