1 Kings 18:18
New International Version
“I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the LORD’s commands and have followed the Baals.

New Living Translation
“I have made no trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “You and your family are the troublemakers, for you have refused to obey the commands of the LORD and have worshiped the images of Baal instead.

English Standard Version
And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals.

Berean Standard Bible
“I have not troubled Israel,” Elijah replied, “but you and your father’s house have, for you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals.

King James Bible
And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim.

New King James Version
And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals.

New American Standard Bible
He said, “I have not brought disaster to Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because you have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and you have followed the Baals.

NASB 1995
He said, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and you have followed the Baals.

NASB 1977
And he said, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and you have followed the Baals.

Legacy Standard Bible
And he said, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because you have forsaken the commandments of Yahweh and you have followed the Baals.

Amplified Bible
Elijah said, “I have not brought disaster on Israel, but you and your father’s household have, by abandoning (rejecting) the commandments of the LORD and by following the Baals.

Christian Standard Bible
He replied, “I have not ruined Israel, but you and your father’s family have, because you have abandoned the LORD’s commands and followed the Baals.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
He replied, “I have not destroyed Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because you have abandoned the LORD’s commands and followed the Baals.

American Standard Version
And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of Jehovah, and thou hast followed the Baalim.

Contemporary English Version
Elijah answered: You're the troublemaker--not me! You and your family have disobeyed the LORD's commands by worshiping Baal.

English Revised Version
And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed the Baalim.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Elijah answered, "I haven't troubled Israel. You and your father's family have done it by disobeying the LORD's commands and following the various Baal gods.

Good News Translation
"I'm not the troublemaker," Elijah answered. "You are--you and your father. You are disobeying the LORD's commands and worshiping the idols of Baal.

International Standard Version
But Elijah replied, "I'm no destroyer of Israel. But you and your ancestor's household have been doing that, because you have abandoned the LORD's commandments and have followed the Baals.

Majority Standard Bible
?I have not troubled Israel,? Elijah replied, ?but you and your father?s house have, for you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals.

NET Bible
Elijah replied, "I have not brought disaster on Israel. But you and your father's dynasty have, by abandoning the LORD's commandments and following the Baals.

New Heart English Bible
He answered, "I have not troubled Israel; but you, and your father's house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and you have followed the Baals.

Webster's Bible Translation
And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim.

World English Bible
He answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken Yahweh’s commandments and you have followed the Baals.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
And he says, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and the house of your father, in your forsaking the commands of YHWH, and you go after the Ba‘alim;

Young's Literal Translation
And he saith, 'I have not troubled Israel, but thou and the house of thy father, in your forsaking the commands of Jehovah, and thou goest after the Baalim;

Smith's Literal Translation
And he will say, I troubled not Israel? but thou and thy father's house in your forsaking the commands of Jehovah, and thou wilt go after the Baals.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
And he said: I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, who have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and have followed Baalim.

Catholic Public Domain Version
And he said: “I have not troubled Israel. But it is you, and the house of your father, who have abandoned the commandments of the Lord, and have followed the Baals.

New American Bible
He answered, “It is not I who disturb Israel, but you and your father’s house, by forsaking the commands of the LORD and you by following the Baals.

New Revised Standard Version
He answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but you have, and your father’s house, because you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
And Elijah said to him, I have not troubled Israel; but it is you and your father's house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed Baal.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Elyah said to him: “I have not troubled Israel, but you and the house of your father, because you have forsaken the commandments of LORD JEHOVAH and you have gone after Baala!
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
And be answered: 'I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed the Baalim.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And Eliu said, I do not pervert Israel; but it is thou and thy father's house, in that ye forsake the Lord your God, and thou hast gone after Baalim.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Elijah on Mount Carmel
17When Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?” 18“I have not troubled Israel,” Elijah replied, “but you and your father’s house have, for you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals. 19Now summon all Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel, along with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.”…

Cross References
Deuteronomy 11:16-17
But be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside to worship and bow down to other gods, / or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you. He will shut the heavens so that there will be no rain, nor will the land yield its produce, and you will soon perish from the good land that the LORD is giving you.

Deuteronomy 13:1-5
If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you, / and if the sign or wonder he has spoken to you comes about, but he says, “Let us follow other gods (which you have not known) and let us worship them,” / you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. For the LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul. ...

Deuteronomy 28:23-24
The sky over your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron. / The LORD will turn the rain of your land into dust and powder; it will descend on you from the sky until you are destroyed.

2 Kings 17:16-18
They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves two cast idols of calves and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the host of heaven and served Baal. / They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and soothsaying. They devoted themselves to doing evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger. / So the LORD was very angry with Israel, and He removed them from His presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained,

2 Kings 21:11-15
“Since Manasseh king of Judah has committed all these abominations, acting more wickedly than the Amorites who preceded him, and with his idols has caused Judah to sin, / this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah that the news will reverberate in the ears of all who hear it. / I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab, and I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down. ...

Jeremiah 2:13
“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Jeremiah 2:19
Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the LORD your God and to have no fear of Me,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.

Jeremiah 3:6-10
Now in the days of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every green tree to prostitute herself there. / I thought that after she had done all these things, she would return to Me. But she did not return, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. / She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well. ...

Jeremiah 5:19
And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’”

Hosea 4:1-3
Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the people of the land: “There is no truth, no loving devotion, and no knowledge of God in the land! / Cursing and lying, murder and stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another. / Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea disappear.

Hosea 4:12-14
My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God. / They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery. / I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go off with prostitutes and offer sacrifices with shrine prostitutes. So a people without understanding will come to ruin.

Matthew 23:29-36
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous. / And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ / So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. ...

Matthew 23:37-39
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling! / Look, your house is left to you desolate. / For I tell you that you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Luke 11:47-51
Woe to you! For you build tombs for the prophets, but it was your fathers who killed them. / So you are witnesses consenting to the deeds of your fathers: They killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. / Because of this, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles; some of them they will kill and others they will persecute.’ ...

Luke 13:34-35
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling! / Look, your house is left to you desolate. And I tell you that you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’”


Treasury of Scripture

And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but you, and your father's house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and you have followed Baalim.

I have not

Ezekiel 3:8
Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.

Matthew 14:4
For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.

Acts 24:13,20
Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me…

in that ye have

1 Kings 9:9
And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil.

2 Chronicles 15:2
And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.

Proverbs 11:19
As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.

Jump to Previous
Abandoned Baalim Baals Ba'als Commandments Commands Elijah Family Father's Followed Forsaken Forsaking House Israel Lord's Orders Trouble Troubled Troubling Turning
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Abandoned Baalim Baals Ba'als Commandments Commands Elijah Family Father's Followed Forsaken Forsaking House Israel Lord's Orders Trouble Troubled Troubling Turning
1 Kings 18
1. In the extremity of famine Elijah, sent to Ahab, meets good Obadiah
9. Obadiah brings Ahab to Elijah
17. Elijah, reproving Ahab, by fire from heaven convinces Baal's prophets
41. Elijah, by prayer obtaining rain, follows Ahab to Jezreel














I have not troubled Israel
The phrase begins with Elijah's bold declaration of innocence. The Hebrew word for "troubled" is "עָכַר" (akar), which means to disturb or bring calamity. Elijah, a prophet of God, stands firm in his conviction that he is not the source of Israel's distress. This highlights the role of a prophet as a messenger of God, often misunderstood or blamed for the consequences of the people's own disobedience. Elijah's courage in confronting King Ahab is a testament to his unwavering faith and dedication to God's truth.

Elijah replied
Elijah's response is direct and confrontational. The name "Elijah" means "My God is Yahweh," which is significant in this context as he stands against the worship of Baal. Elijah's identity is rooted in his relationship with God, and his reply is not just a personal defense but a declaration of divine truth. His role as a prophet is to speak God's words, regardless of the personal risk involved.

but you and your father’s house have
Here, Elijah shifts the responsibility to Ahab and his lineage. The phrase "your father’s house" refers to the dynasty of Omri, Ahab's father, who perpetuated idolatry in Israel. This accusation is not just against Ahab but against the systemic sin that has plagued Israel through its leadership. It underscores the biblical principle that leaders bear significant responsibility for the spiritual direction of their people.

because you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD
The word "forsaken" in Hebrew is "עָזַב" (azab), meaning to abandon or leave behind. Ahab and his house have turned away from the covenantal laws given by God, which were meant to guide Israel in righteousness. This forsaking is not merely a passive act but a deliberate choice to reject God's authority. The commandments of the LORD are central to Israel's identity and relationship with God, and abandoning them leads to spiritual and national decay.

and followed the Baals
The term "Baals" refers to the various local deities worshiped in Canaanite religion, with Baal being a prominent god of fertility and weather. The Hebrew word "בַּעַל" (ba'al) means "lord" or "master," indicating the false authority these idols held over the people. Following the Baals represents a spiritual adultery, as Israel was called to be faithful to Yahweh alone. This idolatry is the root cause of Israel's troubles, as it leads them away from the true source of life and blessing. Elijah's confrontation is a call to repentance and a return to the worship of the one true God.

(18) Baalim--that is, as usual, "the Baalim"--the phrase being probably used contemptuously for false gods generally, the Baal, the Asherah, and perhaps other Canaanitish idols, being included.

Verse 18. - And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy fathers house [It has been supposed that Ahab "hoped to abash the Tishbite, perhaps to have him at his feet suing for pardon" (Rawlinson). If so, he must have completely misjudged his man. And why the prophet should sue for pardon, when he was so clearly master of the situation, it is difficult to imagine. It is quite as likely that Ahab expected denunciation and defiance such as he now provokes], in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou [The change from plural to singular is instructive. Preceding kings and the people at large had broken God's commandments by the calf-worship, but Ahab alone had introduced the Baal-cultus into the land] hast followed [Heb. goest after] Baalim. [The plural may either refer to the various names and forms under which Baal was worshipped - Baal-Berith, Baal-Zebub, etc. (Bahr, al.) - or more probably to the various images or statues of this god set up in the land (Gesenius). "This boldness, this high tone, this absence of the slightest indication of alarm, seems to have completely discomfited Ahab, who ventured on no reply," etc. (Rawlinson). It is probable that, though he put on a bold front, he was from the first thoroughly cowed.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
“I have not
לֹ֤א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

troubled
עָכַ֙רְתִּי֙ (‘ā·ḵar·tî)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 5916: To roil water, to disturb, affict

Israel,”
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל (yiś·rā·’êl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3478: Israel -- 'God strives', another name of Jacob and his desc

[Elijah] replied,
וַיֹּ֗אמֶר (way·yō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“but
כִּ֥י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

you
אַתָּ֖ה (’at·tāh)
Pronoun - second person masculine singular
Strong's 859: Thou and thee, ye and you

and your father’s
אָבִ֑יךָ (’ā·ḇî·ḵā)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 1: Father

house [have],
וּבֵ֣ית (ū·ḇêṯ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1004: A house

for you have forsaken
בַּֽעֲזָבְכֶם֙ (ba·‘ă·zā·ḇə·ḵem)
Preposition-b | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct | second person masculine plural
Strong's 5800: To loosen, relinquish, permit

the commandments
מִצְוֺ֣ת (miṣ·wōṯ)
Noun - feminine plural construct
Strong's 4687: Commandment

of the LORD
יְהוָ֔ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

and have followed
וַתֵּ֖לֶךְ (wat·tê·leḵ)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

the Baals.
הַבְּעָלִֽים׃ (hab·bə·‘ā·lîm)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 1168: Baal -- a heathen god


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OT History: 1 Kings 18:18 He answered I have not troubled Israel (1Ki iKi i Ki 1 Kg 1kg)
1 Kings 18:17
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