Bible Strands
1 Kings 18:2
So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Elijah obeys the divine command from the third year of the drought by going to present himself to King Ahab in Samaria, where the famine has reached its peak intensity.
The words — The Hebrew לְהֵרָאוֹת (le-hērāʾōt) denotes the act of presenting oneself or making an appearance, while חָזָק (chāzāq) literally means strong or severe, describing the famine's condition.
The thread — This severe famine in Samaria echoes the covenant curses in Leviticus 26:26 and Deuteronomy 28:23, and later reappears as a siege-related starvation in 2 Kings 6:25.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that Elijah’s public appearance to Ahab occurs within a context of enforced divine judgment, requiring the reader to confront the tangible consequences of covenant failure.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 26:26 When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied.
- Deuteronomy 28:23 The sky over your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron.
- 2 Kings 6:25 So there was a great famine in Samaria. Indeed, they besieged the city so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter cab of dove’s dung sold for five shekels of silver.
- Psalms 27:1 Of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—whom shall I dread?
- Psalms 51:4 Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.
- Proverbs 28:1 The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
- Isaiah 51:12 “I, even I, am He who comforts you. Why should you be afraid of mortal man, of a son of man who withers like grass?
- Jeremiah 14:2 “Judah mourns and her gates languish. Her people wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 14:18 If I go out to the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I enter the city, I see those ravaged by famine! For both prophet and priest travel to a land they do not know.’”
- Joel 1:15 Alas for the day! For the Day of the LORD is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.