1 Kings 18:9 (DBY)

Passage

And he said, What have I sinned, that thou givest thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to put me to death?

Nearby Context

1 Kings 18:7 And as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him; and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Is it indeed thou, my lord Elijah?

1 Kings 18:8 And he said to him, I [am he]: go, say to thy lord, Behold Elijah!

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

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

1 Kings 18:11 And now thou sayest, Go, say to thy lord, Behold Elijah!

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "said", "sinned", "thou", "givest", "servant", "hand", "ahab", and "death". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "said" and "sinned", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "And he said to him I am..." into verse 10's "As Jehovah thy God liveth there is...", so "said" and "sinned" 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 "said" and "sinned" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.