1 Kings 18:44

Contextual Overview

⁴¹ And Eliiah sayde vnto Ahab, Get thee vp, eate and drinke, for there is a sound of much rayne. ⁴¹ Eliyah said to Ach'av, Get you up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain. ⁴¹ Then Elijah said to King Ahab, "Now go eat and drink. A heavy rain is coming." ⁴¹ And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain." ⁴¹Now Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of the roar of an abundance of rain." ⁴¹ And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain. ⁴¹ Then Elijah said to Ahab, Up! take food and drink, for there is a sound of much rain. ⁴¹ Elijah told Ahab, "Get something to eat and drink. I hear a heavy rain coming." ⁴¹ Then Eliyahu said to Ach'av, "Get up, eat, and drink, because I hear the sound of heavy rain." ⁴¹ And Elijah said unto Ahab: 'Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.'

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a little cloud: Kekaph ish, "like the hollow of a man's hand;" in the form of a hand bent, the concave side downmost. Mr. Bruce mentions a similar cloud in Abyssinia, as attending the inundation of the Nile. "Every morning, about nine, a small cloud, not above four feet broad, appears in the east, whirling violently round, as if upon an axis; but arrived near the zenith, it first abates its motion, then loses its form, and extends itself greatly, and seems to call up vapours from all opposite quarters. These clouds having attained nearly the same height, rush against each other with great violence, and put me always in mind of Elijah foretelling rain on Mount Carmel." Job 8:7, Zechariah 4:10

Prepare: Heb. Tie, or Bind, 1 Samuel 6:7, 1 Samuel 6:10, Micah 1:13

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 20:14 - order Job 36:29 - the spreadings Psalms 147:8 - covereth Amos 5:8 - that calleth Luke 12:54 - When

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And it came to pass at the seventh time that he said, behold there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand,.... Either about the size or in the form of it; rain water comes out of the sea, and, being strained through the clouds and air, becomes fresh:

and he said, go up: the meaning seems to be, that he should first go down from the mount, and then go up to that part of it where Ahab was:

say unto Ahab, prepare thy chariot; bind or fasten the horses to it, as the phrase seems to signify:

and get thee down; from the mountain where he was, to go to Jezreel, which lay low in a valley:

that the rain stop thee not; on the road, that might be made impassable by it, signifying that such abundance should fall as would make it so.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A little cloud ... - Sailors know full well that such a cloud on the far horizon is often the forerunner of a violent storm.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 18:44. There ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. — איש ככף kechaph ish, like the hollow of a man's hand. In the form of the hand bent, the concave side downmost. I have witnessed a resemblance of this kind at sea previously to a violent storm, a little cloud the size of a man's hand first appearing, and this increasing in size and density every moment, till at last it covered the whole heavens, and then burst forth with incredible fury.

Mr. Bruce mentions a similar appearance in Abyssinia: - "Every morning, in Abyssinia, is clear, and the sun shines. About nine a small cloud, not above four hundred feet broad, appears in the east, whirling violently round, as if upon an axis; but arrived near the zenith, it first abates its motion, then loses its form, and extends itself greatly, and seems to call up vapours from all opposite quarters. These clouds, having attained nearly the same height, rush against each other with great violence, and put me always in mind of Elijah foretelling rain on Mount Carmel." - Travels, vol. v., page 336, edit. 1806.