1 Kings 18:9 (LSB)

Passage

And he said, “What sin have I committed, that you are giving your servant into the hand of Ahab to put me to death?

Nearby Context

1 Kings 18:7 Now it happened that as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him, and he recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is this you, Elijah my master?”

1 Kings 18:8 And he said to him, “It is I. Go, say to your master, ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’”

1 Kings 18:9 And he said, “What sin have I committed, that you are giving your servant into the hand of Ahab to put me to death?

1 Kings 18:10 As Yahweh your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent to search for you; and if they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made the kingdom or nation swear that they could not find you.

1 Kings 18:11 And now you are saying, ‘Go, say to your master, “Behold, Elijah is here.”’

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "said", "committed", "giving", "servant", "hand", "ahab", and "death". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "said" and "committed", 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 It is..." into verse 10's "As Yahweh your God lives there is...", so "said" and "committed" 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 "committed" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.