1 Kings 18 · Verse 21

1 Kings 18:21

And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
1 Kings 18:21, King James Version

1 Kings 18:21 in other translations

BSBThen Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people did not answer a word.
WEBElijah came near to all the people, and said, “How long will you waver between the two sides? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” The people didn’t say a word.
ASVAnd Elijah came near unto all the people, and said, How long go ye limping between the two sides? if Jehovah be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
YLTand Elijah cometh nigh unto all the people, and saith, ‘Till when are ye leaping on the two branches? --if Jehovah is God, go after Him; and if Baal, go after him;' and the people have not answered him a word.
DARBYThen Elijah drew near to all the people, and said, How long do ye halt between two opinions? if Jehovah be God, follow him; and if Baal, follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
BBEAnd Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you go on balancing between two opinions? if the Lord is God, then give worship to him; but if Baal, give worship to him. And the people said not a word in answer.
WebsterAnd Elijah came to all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD is God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.

What does 1 Kings 18:21 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Kings 18:21-40
21-40. Elijah said unto all the people, How long halt ye?--They had long been attempting to conjoin the service of God with that of Baal. It was an impracticable union and the people were so struck with a sense of their own folly, or dread of the king's displeasure, that they "answered not a word." Elijah proposed to decide for them the controversy between God and Baal by an appeal, not to the authority of the law, for that would have no weight, but by a visible token from Heaven. As fire was the element over which Baal was supposed to preside, Elijah proposed that two bullocks should be slain and placed on separate altars of wood, the one for Baal, and the other for God. On whichever the fire should descend to consume it, the event should determine the true God, whom it was their duty to serve. The proposal, appearing every way reasonable, was received by the people with unanimous approval. The priests of Baal commenced the ceremony by calling on their god. In vain did they continue invoking their senseless deity from morning till noon, and from noon till evening, uttering the most piercing cries, using the most frantic gesticulations, and mingling their blood with the sacrifice. No response was heard. No fire descended. Elijah exposed their folly and imposture with the severest irony and, as the day was far advanced, commenced his operations. Inviting the people to approach and see the entire proceeding, he first repaired an old altar of God, which Jezebel had demolished. Then, having arranged the cut pieces of the bullock, he caused four barrels or jars of water to be dashed all over the altar and round in the trench. Once, twice, a third time this precaution was taken, and then, when he had offered an earnest prayer, the miraculous fire descended (Le 9:24; Jud 6:21; 13:20; 1Ch 21:26; 2Ch 7:1), and consumed not only the sacrifice, but the very stones of the altar. The impression on the minds of the people was that of admiration mingled with awe; and with one voice they acknowledged the supremacy of Jehovah as the true God. Taking advantage of their excited feelings, Elijah called on them to seize the priestly impostors, and by their blood fill the channel of the river (Kishon), which, in consequence of their idolatries, the drought had dried up--a direction, which, severe and relentless as it seems, it was his duty as God's minister to give (De 15:5; 18:20). The natural features of the mount exactly correspond with the details of this narrative. The conspicuous summit, 1635 feet above the sea, on which the altars were placed, presents an esplanade spacious enough for the king and the priests of Baal to stand on the one side, and Elijah on the other. It is a rocky soil, on which there is abundance of loose stones, to furnish the twelve stones of which the altar was built--a bed of thick earth, in which a trench could be dug; and yet the earth not so loose that the water poured into it would be absorbed; two hundred fifty feet beneath the altar plateau, there is a perennial fountain, which, being close to the altar of the Lord, might not have been accessible to the people; and whence, therefore, even in that season of severe drought, Elijah could procure those copious supplies of water which he poured over the altar. The distance between this spring and the site of the altar is so short, as to make it perfectly possible to go thrice thither and back again, whereas it would have been impossible once in an afternoon to fetch water from the sea [Van De Velde]. The summit is one thousand feet above the Kishon, which nowhere runs from the sea so close to the base of the mount as just beneath El-Mohhraka; so that the priests of Baal could, in a few minutes, be taken down to the brook (torrent), and slain there. 1Ki 18:41-46. Elijah, by Prayer, Obtains Rain.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 21 How long halt ye between two opinions? - Literally, "How long hop ye about upon two boughs?" This is a metaphor taken from birds hopping about from bough to bough, not knowing on which to settle. Perhaps the idea of limping through lameness should not be overlooked. They were halt, they could not walk uprightly; they dreaded Jehovah, and therefore could not totally abandon him; they feared the king and queen, and therefore thought they must embrace the religion of the state. Their conscience forbade them to do the former; their fear of man persuaded them to do the latter, but in neither were they heartily engaged; and at this juncture their minds seemed in equipoise, and they were waiting for a favorable opportunity to make their decision. Such an opportunity now, through the mercy of God, presented itself.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on 1 Kings 18:21-40
Many of the people wavered in their judgment, and varied in their practice. Elijah called upon them to determine whether Jehovah or Baal was the self-existent, supreme God, the Creator, Governor, and Judge of the world, and to follow him alone. It is dangerous to halt between the service of God and the service of sin, the dominion of Christ and the dominion of our lusts. If Jesus be the only Saviour, let us cleave to him alone for every thing; if the Bible be the world of God, let us reverence and receive the whole of it, and submit our understanding to the Divine teaching it contains. Elijah proposed to bring the matter to a trial. Baal had all the outward advantages, but the event encourages all God's witnesses and advocates never to fear the face of man. The God that answers by fire, let him be God: the atonement was to be made by sacrifice, before the judgment could be removed in mercy. The God therefore that has power to pardon sin, and to signify it by consuming the sin-offering, must needs be the God that can relieve from the calamity. God never required his worshippers to honour him in the manner of the worshippers of Baal; but the service of the devil, though sometimes it pleases and pampers the body, yet, in other things, really is cruel to it, as in envy and drunkenness. God requires that we mortify our lusts and corruptions; but bodily penances and severities are no pleasure to him. Who has required these things at your hands? A few words uttered in assured faith, and with fervent affection for the glory of God, and love to the souls of men, or thirstings after the Lord's image and his favour, form the effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous man, which availeth much. Elijah sought not his own glory, but that of God, for the good of the people. The people are all agreed, convinced, and satisfied; Jehovah, he is the God. Some, we hope, had their hearts turned, but most of them were convinced only, not converted. Blessed are they that have not seen what these saw, yet have believed, and have been wrought upon by it, more than they that saw it.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

1 Kings 18:21 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיִּגַּ֨שׁvai.yi.Gashand he drew nearH5066
אֵלִיָּ֜הוּ'e.li.Ya.huElijahH452
אֶל\־'el-toH413
כָּל\־kol-allH3605
הָעָ֗םha.'Amthe peopleH5971
וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙vai.Yo.merand he saidH559
עַד\־'ad-untilH5704
מָתַ֞יma.Taiwhen?H4970
אַתֶּ֣ם'a.Tem[will] youH859
פֹּסְחִים֮po.se.Chim[be] limpingH6452
עַל\־'al-onH5921
שְׁתֵּ֣יshe.Tei[the] twoH8147
הַסְּעִפִּים֒ha.se.'i.Pimthe crutchesH5587
אִם\־'im-ifH518
יְהוָ֤הYah.wehYahwehH3068
הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙ha.'E.lo.Him[is] <the> GodH430
לְכ֣וּle.KhuwalkH1980
אַחֲרָ֔יו'a.cha.Ravafter himH310
וְאִם\־ve.'im-and ifH518
הַבַּ֖עַלha.Ba.'al<the> BaalH1168
לְכ֣וּle.KhuwalkH1980
אַחֲרָ֑יו'a.cha.Ravafter himH310
וְלֹֽא\־ve.lo'-and notH3808
עָנ֥וּ'a.Nuthey answeredH6030
הָעָ֛םha.'Amthe peopleH5971
אֹת֖וֹ'o.To<obj.> himH853
דָּבָֽר\׃da.Vara wordH1697

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for 1 Kings 18:21

  • Matthew 6:24

    No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

  • Joshua 24:15

    And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

  • 1 Corinthians 10:21-22

    Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?

  • 2 Corinthians 6:14-16

    Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

  • 1 Samuel 7:3

    And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.

  • 2 Kings 17:41

    So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.

  • Revelation 3:15-16

    I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

  • Zephaniah 1:5

    And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham;

  • Deuteronomy 4:35

    Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him.

  • Psalms 100:3

    Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

  • Romans 6:16-22

    Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. …

  • 1 Kings 18:39

    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.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
How long.
De 4:35; 2Ki 17:41; Zep 1:5; Mt 6:24; Lu 6:13; Ro 6:16-22
1Co 10:21,22; 2Co 6:14-16; Re 3:15,16
opinions. or, thoughts. if the Lord.
39; Ex 5:1,2; Jos 24:15,23,24; 1Sa 7:3; 1Ch 17:26; 2Ch 33:13
Ps 100:3
answered.
Ge 24:50; 44:16; Job 40:4,5; Mt 22:12,34,36; Ro 3:19; 6:21

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • 1 Kings 18:20

    So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel.

  • 1 Kings 18:21

    And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.

  • 1 Kings 18:22

    Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.

Read all of 1 Kings 18

1 Kings 18:21 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y acercándose Elías á todo el pueblo, dijo: ¿Hasta cuándo claudicaréis vosotros entre dos pensamientos? Si Jehová es Dios, seguidle; y si Baal, id en pos de él. Y el pueblo no respondió palabra.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et Élie s’approcha de tout le peuple, et dit: Combien de temps hésiterez-vous entre les deux côtés? Si l’ Éternel est Dieu, suivez-le; et si c’est Baal, suivez-le! Et le peuple ne lui répondit mot.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Da trat Elia zu dem ganzen Volke hin und sprach: Wie lange hinket ihr auf beiden Seiten? Wenn Jehova Gott ist, so wandelt ihm nach; wenn aber der Baal, so wandelt ihm nach! Und das Volk antwortete ihm kein Wort.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Accedens autem Elias ad omnem populum, ait: Usquequo claudicatis in duas partes? si Dominus est Deus, sequimini eum: si autem Baal, sequimini illum. Et non respondit ei populus verbum.