1 Kings 19:15 (DRB)

Passage

And the Lord said to him: Go, and return on thy way, through the desert, to Damascus: and when thou art come thither, thou shalt anoint Hazael to be king over Syria;

Nearby Context

1 Kings 19:13 And when Elias heard it, he covered his face with his mantle, and coming forth, stood in the entering in of the cave, and behold a voice unto him, saying: What dost thou here, Elias? And he answered:

1 Kings 19:14 With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant: they have destroyed thy altars, they have slain thy prophets with the sword; and I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it away.

1 Kings 19:15 And the Lord said to him: Go, and return on thy way, through the desert, to Damascus: and when thou art come thither, thou shalt anoint Hazael to be king over Syria;

1 Kings 19:16 And thou shalt anoint Jehu, the son of Namsi, to be king over Israel: and Eliseus, the son of Saphat, of Abelmeula, thou shalt anoint to be prophet in thy room.

1 Kings 19:17 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall escape the sword of Hazael, shall be slain by Jehu: and whosoever shall escape the sword of Jehu, shall be slain by Eliseus.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "lord", "said", "return", "through", "desert", "damascus", "thou", and "come". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "lord" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 14's "With zeal have I been zealous for..." into verse 16's "And thou shalt anoint Jehu the son...", so "lord" 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 "lord" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.