GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Hear me, Yahweh, hear me, that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God, and that you have turned their heart back again.”
Then Yahweh’s fire fell, and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces. They said, “Yahweh, he is God! Yahweh, he is God!”
1 Kings 18:37-39 sits inside this longer paragraph.
At the time of the evening offering, Elijah the prophet came near, and said, “Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Hear me, Yahweh, hear me, that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God, and that you have turned their heart back again.”
Then Yahweh’s fire fell, and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces. They said, “Yahweh, he is God! Yahweh, he is God!”
Hear me, Yahweh, hear me, that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God, and that you have turned their heart back again.”
Then Yahweh’s fire fell, and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces. They said, “Yahweh, he is God! Yahweh, he is God!”
Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.
Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that Thou, LORD, art God, for Thou didst turn their heart backward.'
Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt-offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said: 'The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God.'
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
32 distinct cross-references across this passage (34 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v37 Though God suffer his to run in blindness and…
Though God suffer his to run in blindness and error for a time, yet at the length he calleth them home to him by some notorious sign and work.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv37–39 1Ki 18:37 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that…
1Ki 18:37 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou [art] the LORD God, and [that] thou hast turned their heart back again.
Ver. 37. Hear me, O Lord, hear me.] God is distinguished from all false gods by his hearing of prayers. This the prophet well knew, and therefore crieth, "Hear me, Lord, hear me": the people also acknowledge it, {1Ki 18:39} where seeing God’s answer by fire to the prophet’s prayer, they cry out, as fully convinced, "The Lord," and not Baal, "he is God; the Lord, he is God."
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And that thou hast turned.] Or, Turn thou their hearts, &c.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv37, 39 That thou hast turned their heart; that they may…
That thou hast turned their heart; that they may feel so powerful and sudden a change in their hearts, that they may know it is thy work, and the effect of thy grace to them, and in them. Or, when thou hast turned, &c., or, because thou, &c. So the particle vau is oft used; and the sense is, That they may know thee to be the true God, by the effects of thy Divine power, in converting their hearts, and that in so miraculous a way, and in answer to my prayers.
Back again unto thee, from whom they have revolted.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv37–39 And when all the people saw it, they fell…
And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces,.... In reverence of God, astonished at the miracle wrought, ashamed of themselves and their sins, particularly their idolatry, that they should turn their backs on the true God, and follow idols:
and they said, the Lord, he is the God, the Lord, he is the God; which acknowledgment of God, as the true God, in opposition to Baal, is repeated, to show their firm belief and strong assurance of it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv37–39 Hast turned - Let them feel so powerful a…
Hast turned - Let them feel so powerful a change in their hearts, that they may know it is thy work. Back again - Unto thee, from whom they have revolted.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv38–39 Verse 38. Then the fire of the Lord fell]…
Verse 38. Then the fire of the Lord fell] It did not burst out from the altar; this might still, notwithstanding the water, have afforded some ground for suspicion that fire had been concealed, after the manner of the heathens, under the altar.
Pindar's account of the Rhodians' settling is the isle of Rhodes, and their first sacrifice there, bears a near affinity to the account here given: the shower of gold descending on the sacrifice offered up without fire, to show the approbation of their god, is little more than a poetic account of the above transactions.
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Καιτοι γαρ αιθουσας εχοντεςπ
Σπερμ ' ανεβαν φλογος ου
Τευξαν δ ' απυροις ἱεροις
Αλσος εν ακροπολει· κεινοισι μεν ξαν -
θαν αγαγων νεφελαι·
Πολυν ὑσε χρυσον
Pind. Olymp. Od. 7, ver. 86.
The Rhodians, mindful of their sire's behest,
Straight in the citadel an altar reared;
But with imperfect rites the Power addressed,
And without fire their sacrifice prepared;
Yet Jove, approving, o'er the assembly spread
A yellow cloud, that dropped with golden dews.
WEST.
Consumed the burnt-sacrifice] The process of this consumption is very remarkable, and all calculated to remove the possibility of a suspicion that there was any concealed fire.
1. The fire came down from heaven.
2. The pieces of the sacrifice were first consumed.
3. The wood next, to show that it was not even by means of the wood that the flesh was burned.
4. The twelve stones were also consumed, to show that it was no common fire, but one whose agency nothing could resist.
5. The dust, the earth of which the altar was constructed, was burned up.
6. The water that was in the trench was, by the action of this fire, entirely evaporated.
7. The action of this fire was in every case downward, contrary to the nature of all earthly and material fire. Nothing can be more simple and artless than this description, yet how amazingly full and satisfactory is the whole account!
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv38–39 1Ki 18:38. The fire of the Lord fell —…
1Ki 18:38. The fire of the Lord fell — And not only, as at other times, (see the margin,) consumed the sacrifice and the wood, in token of God’s acceptance of the offering, but licked up all the water that was in the trench, exhaling and drawing it up as a vapour, to descend (with other water, to be raised from the adjoining sea) in the intended rain, which was to be the fruit of this sacrifice and prayer, more than the product of natural causes. And this was not all. To complete the miracle, the fire consumed the stones of the altar, and the very dust, to show that it was no ordinary fire, and perhaps to intimate that though God accepted this occasional sacrifice from this altar, yet for the future they ought to demolish all the altars on their high places, and for their constant sacrifices make use of that at Jerusalem only. Moses’s altar and Solomon’s were consecrated by fire from heaven; but this was destroyed, because it was to be used no more. We may well imagine, what a terror this fire struck on guilty Ahab, and all the worshippers of Baal, and how they fled from it as far and as fast as they could, saying, in their hearts, Lest it consume us also, Num 16:34.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv37–39 That thou hast turned their heart - The hearts…
That thou hast turned their heart - The hearts of the people were turning. Elijah speaks of them as already turned, anticipating the coming change, and helping it on.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv37–38 Again. This effect he hoped for from the miracle.
Again. This effect he hoped for from the miracle.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv37–39 37. Thou hast turned their heart back again —…
37. Thou hast turned their heart back again — Back again from idols to thyself. The prophet thus anticipates the results of this contest, and thinks of the people as already reclaimed from their idolatrous practices.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv37–39 37. that thou art the Lord God] R.V. that…
37. that thou art the Lord God] R.V. that thou Lord art God. This is what Elijah desired, that it should be shewn that to apply the name ‘Elohim’ to Baal, and idols like him, was a folly and a delusion. The heathen, and those who went after them, used this name for the objects of their worship, and Elijah in his mockery had employed their phrase (1Ki_18:27) and said of Baal ‘He is Elohim.’ In the present verse, as in 1Ki_18:39 below, the noun has the article before it, which is shewn by the rendering of the A.V. in 1Ki_18:39 ‘he is the God.’ But such an insertion is needless. If we assert that Jehovah is God, it is implied that there is none else. The R.V. therefore omits the article twice over in 1Ki_18:39, reading he is God.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v39 (39) They fell on their faces.—Exactly as in Lev_9:24,…
(39) They fell on their faces.—Exactly as in Lev_9:24, at the inauguration of the sacrifices of the new Tabernacle by the fire from heaven, with the characteristic addition of the cry, “Jehovah; He, and He only, is God.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv37–39 Hear me, O Lord Jehovah, hear me or answer…
Hear me, O Lord Jehovah, hear me or answer me; same word as in vers. 24, 26, and 29, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God Rather, "that thou, Jehovah, art the God." Same expression as in ver. 24, "let him be the God", and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Cf. Mal_4:5, 6: "He "Elijah the prophet" shall turn the heart of the fathers," etc. He speaks as if the miracle were already wrought (cf., Joh_11:41) and the people already repentant. His prayer is that they may understand that the prodigy about to be performed was wrought for their conversion.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v39 All the people . . . said, The Lord,…
1Ki_18:39
All the people . . . said, The Lord, He is the God.
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Christianity acknowledged supreme
In the Introduction to his Analogy of Religion, Bishop Butler says: It has come to pass--I know not how--that Christianity is discovered to be victorious. Why, that was nearly two hundred years ago! I wonder how many books have been written against the Bible since then, and handed up, one after the other, to the cobwebs of the upper shelves in the library, while the old Book still lies before us, saying with a conscious sense of superiority to all the other books--
Books may come and books may go,
But I go on for ever.
A reformers temporary successes
There was a time, towards the close of the fifteenth century, when the devoted monk and martyr, Savonarola, seemed to have set up the kingdom of Christ in his beloved city of Florence. How he remodelled the Republican government; how he tamed the mischievous boys of the city; how at his bidding the people kindled in the great Piazza, during the Carnival of 1496, the strange Bonfire of Vanities; how the watchword of Florence became, Viva Gesu Cristo, nostro Re--Long live Jesus Christ, our King: there are few histories like it. It was an Italian theocracy. It was a day of heaven on the earth. So much joy was there in all hearts, one of the chroniclers tells us, that the glory of Paradise seemed to have descended to this lower world. The pity is that the Golden Age of Florence was so transient and brief-lived. (Sunday School Teacher.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v38 the fire of Yahweh fell
the fire of Yahweh fell
"the fire of Yahweh came down"
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licked up
The fire is compared to a thirsty person drinking water. (See: Personification)
Yahweh, he is God! Yahweh, he is God!
This phrase is repeated for emphasis.
translationWords
Yahweh
consume
Baal
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv37–38 18:37 The call-answer motif appears frequently in the Old…
18:37 The call-answer motif appears frequently in the Old Testament, often depicting the petitioner’s intimate relationship to the Lord (Job 14:15; Pss 4:1; 91:15; 102:2; Isa 65:24; Jer 33:3).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.