1 Kings 18:40 (DRB)

Passage

And Elias said to them: Take the prophets of Baal, and let not one of them escape. And when they had taken them, Elias brought them down to the torrent Cison, and killed them there.

Nearby Context

1 Kings 18:38 Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.

1 Kings 18:39 And when all the people saw this, they fell on their faces, and they said: The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.

1 Kings 18:40 And Elias said to them: Take the prophets of Baal, and let not one of them escape. And when they had taken them, Elias brought them down to the torrent Cison, and killed them there.

1 Kings 18:41 And Elias said to Achab: Go up, eat and drink: for there is a sound of abundance of rain.

1 Kings 18:42 Achab went up to eat and drink: and Elias went up to the top of Carmel, and casting himself down upon the earth, put his face between his knees,

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "elias", "said", "take", "prophets", "baal", "escape", and "taken". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "elias" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 39's "And when all the people saw this..." into verse 41's "And Elias said to Achab Go up...", so "elias" and "said" 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 "elias" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.