He said, “I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
1 Kings 19:8 He arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, God’s Mountain.
1 Kings 19:9 He came to a cave there, and camped there; and behold, Yahweh’s word came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
1 Kings 19:10 He said, “I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
1 Kings 19:11 He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before Yahweh.” Behold, Yahweh passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before Yahweh; but Yahweh was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake; but Yahweh was not in the earthquake.
1 Kings 19:12 After the earthquake a fire passed; but Yahweh was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a still small voice.
The verse centers on "said", "been", "very", "jealous", "yahweh", "armies", "children", and "israel". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "said" and "been", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 9's "He came to a cave there and..." into verse 11's "He said Go out and stand on...", so "said" and "been" 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 "been" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.