What Does 1 Kings 19:14 Mean in the King James?
And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse holds two opposite acts beneath English “left”: Israel abandons the covenant, while the speaker is a remainder whose loneliness is not the whole count.
THE MEANING
When covenant is abandoned around you and messengers are killed, the danger is not abstract: your life itself is sought. This verse gives that terror its full words, the sacred places are wrecked, the messengers slain, and the speaker sees himself as the only one remaining. Yet the answer that follows reveals thousands still beyond his sight.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that not seeing anyone else standing faithful proves you are the only one left; hidden does not mean absent.
THE ROOT
וָאִוָּתֵר
va'ivater
GROWS FROM
י־ת־ר
Remain over; be left as a remainder.
“left” in this verse is va'ivater. The Hebrew calls the speaker what remains, while the nearby “forsaken” comes from a different root, עזב (ʿ-z-b), for leaving or abandoning. The verse distinguishes the covenant’s abandonment from the speaker’s remnant status: being the only one in view does not establish that no one else remains.
ALSO GROWS
yeter: Remainder, surplus
יֶתֶר
This branch names what remains over, giving “left” the force of a remainder after loss.
yitron: Gain, advantage, profit
יִתְרוֹן
Ecclesiastes uses this branch for what is gained or left over, extending the root’s sense of what remains beyond an expenditure.
עָזְבוּ
ʿāzəvû
GROWS FROM
ע־ז־ב
Leave, depart, abandon.
“forsaken” in this verse is ʿāzəvû. The verb describes departure from a relationship or obligation; here its object is the covenant. Beside yathar, it shows that the KJV’s repeated “left” is doing two different jobs: abandoning and remaining.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāzab: To leave, forsake
עָזַב
Genesis 2:24 uses this verb for leaving father and mother to form a union; here, its object is the covenant, giving the departure its force of rupture.
ʿăzûbāh: Forsaken
עֲזוּבָה
Isaiah 62:4 uses this form for a name that will no longer be assigned, showing how abandonment can become a person’s defining condition.
THE PATTERN
What appears to be total isolation can be only the visible count; another presence or remnant remains beyond sight.
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.But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.THE THREAD
Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.The verb translated “forsaken” in 1 Kings 19:14 is עזב (ʿāzab), and “forsake” here uses that same root. The same seed names the abandonment the speaker sees and the abandonment this promise says God will not enact.
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