# 1 Kings 18.4

<!-- type: passage | created: 2026-11-02 | updated: 2026-11-02 -->

**Book:** [1 Kings](/codex/1-kings/) · NASB95

## Immediate context (±2 verses)

**ASV** ([ASV](/codex/asv/))
> 2. And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab. And the famine was sore in Samaria. 3. And Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared Jehovah greatly:
>
> **4. for it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of Jehovah, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)**
>
> 5. And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go through the land, unto all the fountains of water, and unto all the brooks: peradventure we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts. 6. So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. (1 Kings 18:2-6, ASV)

**WEB** ([WEB](/codex/web/))
> 2. Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria. 3. Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared Yahweh greatly;
>
> **4. for when Jezebel cut off Yahweh’s prophets, Obadiah took one hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)**
>
> 5. Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land, to all the springs of water, and to all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we not lose all the animals.” 6. So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. (1 Kings 18:2-6, WEB)

**KJV** ([KJV](/codex/kjv/))
> 2. And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria. 3. And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly: <sup>Obadiah: Heb. Obadiahu</sup> <sup>the governor: Heb. over his house</sup>
>
> **4. For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) <sup>Jezebel: Heb. Izebel</sup>**
>
> 5. And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts. <sup>that: Heb. that we cut not off ourselves from the beasts</sup> 6. So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. (1 Kings 18:2-6, KJV)

**YLT** ([YLT](/codex/ylt/))
> 2. and Elijah goeth to appear unto Ahab. And the famine is severe in Samaria, 3. and Ahab calleth unto Obadiah, who [is] over the house, and Obadiah hath been fearing Jehovah greatly,
>
> **4. and it cometh to pass, in Jezebel's cutting off the prophets of Jehovah, that Obadiah taketh a hundred prophets, and hideth them, fifty men in a cave, and hath sustained them with bread and water**
>
> 5. and Ahab saith unto Obadiah, 'Go through the land, unto all fountains of waters, and unto all the brooks, if so be we find hay, and keep alive horse and mule, and do not cut off any of the cattle.' 6. And they apportion to themselves the land, to pass over into it; Ahab hath gone in one way by himself, and Obadiah hath gone in another way by himself; (1 Kings 18:2-6, YLT)

## Setting

- **Speaker:** _TBD_
- **Audience:** _TBD_
- **Location:** _TBD_
- **Time period:** _TBD_

## Theological reading

_Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added._

## Key words

_Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word._

- None of the words in this verse has its own lexicon entry yet.

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## Quoted in

**People:**

- [Elijah](/codex/elijah/)

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## Notes

_Your annotations._

## Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the **most literal English translations available** (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the **public domain in the United States**, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

- **[ASV](/codex/asv/)** (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
- **[WEB](/codex/web/)** (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
- **[KJV](/codex/kjv/)** (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
- **[YLT](/codex/ylt/)** (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See [Bibles](/codex/bibles/) for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.