1st Kings Chapter 19 verse 4 Holy Bible

ASV 1stKings 19:4

But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper-tree: and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough; now, O Jehovah, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
read chapter 19 in ASV

BBE 1stKings 19:4

While he himself went a day's journey into the waste land, and took a seat under a broom-plant, desiring for himself only death; for he said, It is enough: now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.
read chapter 19 in BBE

DARBY 1stKings 19:4

And he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a certain broom-bush, and requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough: now, Jehovah, take my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
read chapter 19 in DARBY

KJV 1stKings 19:4

But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
read chapter 19 in KJV

WBT 1stKings 19:4

But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper-tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
read chapter 19 in WBT

WEB 1stKings 19:4

But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough; now, O Yahweh, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
read chapter 19 in WEB

YLT 1stKings 19:4

and he himself hath gone into the wilderness a day's Journey, and cometh and sitteth under a certain retem-tree, and desireth his soul to die, and saith, `Enough, now, O Jehovah, take my soul, for I `am' not better than my fathers.'
read chapter 19 in YLT

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 4. - But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness [Cf. Genesis 21:14, 21; Jeremiah 9:2; Revelation 12:6. Beer-sheba stands on the fringe of the desert of Et-Tih. It was not for the sake of security alone that the prophet plunged into the "great and terrible wilderness." It is probable that from the first, "Horeb, the mount of God," was in his thoughts. He may well have seen that he was destined to be a second Moses; that he was raised up to assert and enforce the covenant of which Moses was the mediator. We have seen already that he cites the words spoken to Moses at the bush (1 Kings 18:36); that to him as to Moses there was granted an apparition of fire; we now find him rejected as Moses had been before him (Acts 7:25, 35). How natural that, like Moses, he should flee into the land of Midian, to the place where God had spoken With Moses face to face. Wordsworth reminds us that the Jewish Church, by its cycle of lessons, suggests a comparison between the Law Giver and the Law Restorer], and came and sat down under a [Heb. one; see note on 1 Kings 13:11] juniper tree [The רֹתֶם, here found with a feminine numeral (Keri, masculine), in ver. 5 with a masculine, is not the juniper, but the plant now known to the Arabs as retem, i.e., the broom (genista monosperma, or G. raetam), "the most longed for and most welcome bush of the desert, abundant in beds of streams and valleys, where spots for camping are selected, and men sit clown and sleep in order to be protected against wind and sun" (Robinson, Pal. vol. 1. p. 203). It does not, however, afford a complete protection (Thomson, L. and B. vol. 2. pp. 436, 437). Every traveller remarks on its abundance in the desert; it gave a name, Rithmah, to one of the stations of the Israelites (Numbers 33:18. Cf. Stanley, S. and P. pp. 20, 79). Its roots are still used by the Bedouin, for the manufacture of charcoal (cf. Psalm 120:4, "coals of rethern"), which they carry to Cairo]: and he requested for himself [Heb. asked as to his life, accusative of reference] that he might die [Again like Moses, Numbers 11:15; Exodus 32:32]; and said, It Is enough [or, Let it be enough. LXX. ἱκανούσθω. See note on 1 Kings 12:28]; now, O Lord, take away my life ["Strange contradiction! Here the man who was destined not to taste of death, flees from death on the one hand and seeks it on the other." Kitto]; for I am not better than my fathers. [These words clearly reveal the great hopes Elijah had formed as to the result of his mission, and the terrible disappointment his banishment had occasioned him. Time was when he had thought himself a most special messenger of Heaven, raised up to effect the regeneration of his country. He now thinks his work is fruitless, and he has nothing to live for longer. Keil concludes from these words that Elijah was already of a great age, but this is extremely doubtful.]

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4) Juniper tree.--A sort of broom, found abundantly in the desert. It has been noted that its roots were much prized for charcoal, the "coal" of 1Kings 19:6.I am not better than my fathers.--The exclamation is characteristic. Evidently he had hoped that he himself was "better than his fathers" as a servant of God--singled out beyond all those that went before him, to be the victorious champion of a great crisis, "he, and he alone" (1Kings 18:22; 1Kings 19:10-14). Now he thinks his hope vain, and sees no reason why he should succeed when all who went before have failed. Why, he asks, should he live when the rest of the prophets have died?