1 Kings 18:42 (YLT)

Passage

And Ahab goeth up to eat, and to drink, and Elijah hath gone up unto the top of Carmel, and he stretcheth himself out on the earth, and he placeth his face between his knees,

Nearby Context

1 Kings 18:40 And Elijah saith to them, `Catch ye the prophets of Baal; let not a man escape of them;' and they catch them, and Elijah bringeth them down unto the stream Kishon, and doth slaughter them there.

1 Kings 18:41 And Elijah saith to Ahab, `Go up, eat and drink, because of the sound of the noise of the shower.'

1 Kings 18:42 And Ahab goeth up to eat, and to drink, and Elijah hath gone up unto the top of Carmel, and he stretcheth himself out on the earth, and he placeth his face between his knees,

1 Kings 18:43 and saith unto his young man, `Go up, I pray thee, look attentively the way of the sea;' and he goeth up and looketh attentively, and saith, `There is nothing;' and he saith, `Turn back,' seven times.

1 Kings 18:44 And it cometh to pass, at the seventh, that he saith, `Lo, a little thickness as the palm of a man is coming up out of the sea.' And he saith, `Go up, say unto Ahab, `Bind--and go down, and the shower doth not restrain thee.'

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "ahab", "goeth", "drink", "elijah", "hath", "gone", "carmel", and "stretcheth". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "ahab" and "goeth", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 41's "And Elijah saith to Ahab Go up..." into verse 43's "and saith unto his young man Go...", so "ahab" and "goeth" 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 "ahab" and "goeth" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.