1 Kings 19:18

Hope Loneliness Fellowship and the church Comfort

¹⁶ You are also to anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah to succeed you as prophet.

¹⁷ Then Jehu will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Jehu.

Nevertheless, I have reserved seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

¹⁹ So Elijah departed and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve teams of oxen, and he was with the twelfth team. Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak around him.

²⁰ So Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, and then I will follow you.” “Go on back,” Elijah replied, “for what have I done to you?”

Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: Nevertheless, I have reserved seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”
KJV: Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.
WEB: Yet I reserved seven thousand in Israel, all the knees of which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
ASV: Yet will I leave [me] seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.
DARBY: Yet I have left [myself] seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth that hath not kissed him.
BLB: And I have reserved in Israel seven thousand—all the knees that have not bowed to the Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

ÅB: Men jeg vil la syv tusen bli tilbake i Israel, alle som ikke har bøyd kne for Ba'al, og alle som ikke har kysset ham med sin munn.
OTB: Likevel vil jeg bevare sju tusen i Israel, alle knær som ikke har bøyd seg for Baal og hver munn som ikke har kysset ham."
B1930: Men jeg vil la syv tusen bli tilbake i Israel, alle som ikke har bøid kne for Ba'al, og alle som ikke har kysset ham med sin munn.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Romans 11:4–5
And what was the divine reply to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
Read in context
Isaiah 1:9
Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
Read in context
Isaiah 10:20–22
On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on him who struck them, but they will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.
Read in context
Hosea 13:2
Now they sin more and more and make for themselves cast images, idols skillfully made from their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. People say of them, “They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves!”
Read in context
Psalms 2:12
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in your rebellion, when His wrath ignites in an instant. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.
Read in context
Philippians 2:10
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
Read in context
Exodus 20:5
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Read in context
Job 31:27
so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,
Read in context