1 Kings 18:4 (ASV)

Passage

for it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of Jehovah, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)

Nearby Context

1 Kings 18:2 And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab. And the famine was sore in Samaria.

1 Kings 18:3 And Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared Jehovah greatly:

1 Kings 18:4 for it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of Jehovah, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)

1 Kings 18:5 And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go through the land, unto all the fountains of water, and unto all the brooks: peradventure we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts.

1 Kings 18:6 So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "jezebel", "prophets", "jehovah", "obadiah", "took", "hundred", and "fifty". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "jezebel" and "prophets", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "And Ahab called Obadiah who was over..." into verse 5's "And Ahab said unto Obadiah Go through...", so "jezebel" and "prophets" 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 "jezebel" and "prophets" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.