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Selected Verse: 1 Kings 17:4 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
1Ki 17:4 |
King James |
And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
The ravens - This is the translation of most of the ancient versions; others, omitting the points, which are generally allowed to have no authority, read "Arabians;" others, retaining the present pointing, translate either "merchants" (compare the original of Eze 27:9, Eze 27:27), or "Orbites." Jerome took it in this last sense, and so does the Arabic Version. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
Have commanded - Or, I shall command, that is, effectually move them, by instincts which shall be as forcible with them, as a law or command is to men. God is said to command both brute creatures, and senseless things; when he causeth them to do the things which he intends to effect by them. The ravens - Which he chuseth for this work; to shew his care and power in providing for the prophet by those creatures, which are noted for their greediness, that by this strange experiment he might be taught to trust God in those many and great difficulties to which he was to be exposed. God could have sent angels to minister to him. But he chose winged messengers of another kind to shew he can serve his own purposes as effectually, by the meanest creatures as by the mightiest. Ravens neglect their own young, and do not feed them: yet when God pleaseth, they shall feed his prophet. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
I have commanded the ravens to feed thee - Thou shalt not lack the necessaries of life; thou shalt be supplied by an especial providence.
See more on this subject at the end of the chapter, Kg1 17:24 (note). |
27 Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin.
9 The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.
24 And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.