Bible Strands
1 Kings 18:4
for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator inserts a parenthetical explanation during Ahab’s dialogue with Obadiah, the palace administrator. This background occurs immediately before Ahab commands Obadiah to search the land for water and grass for the livestock.
The words — בְּ/הַכְרִ֣ית (be/hakh.Rit) literally means “when cut off,” denoting Jezebel’s execution of Yahweh’s prophets. וַ/יִּקַּ֨ח (va/i.yi.Kach) translates “and he took,” recording Obadiah’s physical rescue and concealment of the survivors.
The thread — Obadiah repeats this account to Ahab in 1 Kings 18:13. The motif of state violence against prophets appears in Nehemiah 9:26, while the principle of receiving divine messengers is stated in Matthew 10:40.
Why it lands — The text records a covert preservation of Yahweh’s word-bearers during royal persecution. It requires the reader to recognize that obedience to God operates through hidden, practical action when public authority opposes it.
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
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.)
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 18:13 Was it not reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel slaughtered the prophets of the LORD? I hid a hundred prophets of the LORD, fifty men per cave, and I provided them with food and water.
- Matthew 10:40 He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives the One who sent Me.
- Nehemiah 9:26 But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.
- Matthew 21:35 But the tenants seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.
- Matthew 25:35 For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in,
- Matthew 25:40 And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’
- Hebrews 11:38 The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground.
- Revelation 17:4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.
- 1 Kings 13:8 But the man of God replied, “If you were to give me half your possessions, I still would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place.
- 1 Kings 13:16 But the man replied, “I cannot go home with you, and I will not eat bread or drink water with you in this place.