1 Kings 18:10 (KJV)

Passage

As the LORD thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not.

Nearby Context

1 Kings 18:8 And he answered him, I am: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.

1 Kings 18:9 And he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me?

1 Kings 18:10 As the LORD thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not.

1 Kings 18:11 And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.

1 Kings 18:12 And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the LORD shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the LORD from my youth.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "lord", "liveth", "nation", "kingdom", "whither", "hath", and "sent". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "lord" and "liveth", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 9's "And he said What have I sinned..." into verse 11's "And now thou sayest Go tell thy...", so "lord" and "liveth" belong inside that flow. In 1 Kings context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "lord" and "liveth" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.