1 Kings 19:4 (DBY)

Passage

And he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a certain broom-bush, and requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough: now, Jehovah, take my life; for I am not better than my fathers.

Nearby Context

1 Kings 19:2 And Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, So do the gods [to me], and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time!

1 Kings 19:3 And when he saw [that], he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

1 Kings 19:4 And he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a certain broom-bush, and requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough: now, Jehovah, take my life; for I am not better than my fathers.

1 Kings 19:5 And he lay down and slept under the broom-bush. And behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, Arise, eat!

1 Kings 19:6 And he looked, and behold, at his head was a cake, baked on hot stones, and a cruse of water. And he ate and drank, and lay down again.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "himself", "went", "day's", "journey", "wilderness", "came", "down", and "under". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "himself" and "went", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "And when he saw that he arose..." into verse 5's "And he lay down and slept under...", so "himself" and "went" 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 "himself" and "went" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.