Bible Strands
1 Kings 19:9
There Elijah entered a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Elijah arrives at Horeb after a forty-day journey and enters a cave to spend the night. The Lord addresses him directly with the question, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
The words — The text highlights דְבַר (de.var), meaning “word,” and וַ/יָּבֹא (va/i.ya.vo'), meaning “and he went/entered,” alongside שָ֥ם (sham) repeated twice for “there.” These terms frame Elijah’s physical arrival at the cave and the subsequent divine communication.
The thread — The inquiry “What are you doing here?” parallels the divine questions in Genesis 3:9 and Genesis 16:8, while the emphasis on a specific location corresponds to Exodus 33:21’s instruction to stand at a designated place near God.
Why it lands — The verse requires a direct accounting of one’s present location and purpose before God. It sets the immediate context for Elijah’s subsequent defense of his solitary zeal, framing divine inquiry as the necessary response to human exhaustion.
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 he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?
Cross-references
- Genesis 3:9 But the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?”
- Genesis 16:8 “Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he said, “where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I am running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied.
- Exodus 33:21 The LORD continued, “There is a place near Me where you are to stand upon a rock,
- 1 Kings 19:13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
- Jeremiah 2:18 Now what will you gain on your way to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? What will you gain on your way to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
- 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.
- Jeremiah 9:2 If only I had a traveler’s lodge in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a crowd of faithless people.
- Jonah 1:3 Jonah, however, got up to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship bound for Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard to sail for Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.