1-kings 18:26
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped on the altar which was made.
American King James Version (AKJV)
And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped on the altar which was made.
American Standard Version (ASV)
And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped about the altar which was made.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
So they took the ox which was given them, and made it ready, crying out to Baal from morning till the middle of the day, and saying, O Baal, give ear to us. But there was no voice and no answer. And they were jumping up and down before the altar they had made.
Webster's Revision
And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.
World English Bible
They took the bull which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any who answered. They leaped about the altar which was made.
English Revised Version (ERV)
And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped about the altar which was made.
Definitions for 1-kings 18:26
Clarke's 1-kings 18:26 Bible Commentary
From morning even until noon - It seems that the priests of Baal employed the whole day in their desperate rites. The time is divided into two periods:
1. From morning until noon; this was employed in preparing and offering the sacrifice, and in earnest supplication for the celestial fire. Still there was no answer, and at noon Elijah began to mock and ridicule them, and this excited them to commence anew. And,
2. They continued from noon till the time of offering the evening sacrifice, dancing up and down, cutting themselves with knives, mingling their own blood with their sacrifice, praying, supplicating, and acting in the most frantic manner.
And they leaped upon the altar - Perhaps it will be more correct to read with the margin, they leaped up and down at the altar; they danced round it with strange and hideous cries and gesticulations, tossing their heads to and fro, with a great variety of bodily contortions.
A heathen priest, a high priest of Budhoo, has been just showing me the manner in which they dance and jump up and down, and from side to side, twisting their bodies in all manner of ways, when making their offerings to their demon gods; a person all the while beating furiously on a tom-tom, or drum, to excite and sustain those frantic attitudes; at the same time imploring the succor of their god, frequently in some such language as this: "O loving brother devil, hear me, and receive my offering!" To perform these sacrificial attitudes they have persons who are taught to practice them from their earliest years, according to directions laid down in religious books; and to make the joints and body pliant, much anointing of the parts and mechanical management are used; and they have masters, whose business it is to teach these attitudes and contortions according to the rules laid down in those books. It seems therefore that this was a very general practice of idolatry, as indeed are the others mentioned in this chapter.
Barnes's 1-kings 18:26 Bible Commentary
And called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon - Compare the parallel in the conduct of the Greeks of Ephesus. Acts 19:34. The words "O Baal, hear us," probably floated on the air as the refrain of a long and varied hymn of supplication.
They leaped upon the altar which was made - The marginal rendering is preferable to this. Wild dancing has always been a devotional exercise in the East, and remains so to this day; witness the dancing dervishes. It was practiced especially in the worship of Nature-powers, like the Dea Phrygia (Cybele), the Dea Syra (Astarte?), and the like.
Wesley's 1-kings 18:26 Bible Commentary
18:26 Dressed - Cut it in pieces, and laid the parts upon the wood. From morning - From the time of the morning sacrifice; which advantage Elijah suffered them to take. They leapt upon - Or, beside the altar: or, before it. They used some superstitious and disorderly gestures, either pretending to be acted by the spirit of their god, and to be in a kind of religious extasy; or, in way of devotion to their god.
