1 Kings 18:3 (DBY)

Passage

And Ahab called Obadiah, who was the steward of his house (now Obadiah feared Jehovah greatly;

Nearby Context

1 Kings 18:1 And it came to pass after many days, that the word of Jehovah came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself to Ahab; and I will send rain upon the face of the earth.

1 Kings 18:2 And Elijah went to shew himself to Ahab. And the famine was severe in Samaria.

1 Kings 18:3 And Ahab called Obadiah, who was the steward of his house (now Obadiah feared Jehovah greatly;

1 Kings 18:4 and 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 maintained them with bread and water);

1 Kings 18:5 and Ahab said to Obadiah, Go through the land, to all the fountains of water and to all the torrents, perhaps we may find grass to save the horses and the mules alive, so that we may not have to destroy some of [our] beasts.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "called", "ahab", "obadiah", "steward", "house", "feared", and "jehovah". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "called" and "ahab", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "And Elijah went to shew himself to..." into verse 4's "and it was so when Jezebel cut...", so "called" and "ahab" 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 "called" and "ahab" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.