1 Kings 18:31

Contemporary English Version

Then he used twelve stones to build an altar in honor of the Lord . Each stone stood for one of the tribes of Israel, which was the name the Lord had given to their ancestor Jacob. Elijah dug a ditch around the altar, large enough to hold about thirteen quarts.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Elijah took twelve stones—according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Israel will be your name”—

Hebrew Names Version
Eliyah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Ya`akov, to whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Yisra'el shall be your name.

King James Version
And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name:

English Standard Version
Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, "Israel shall be your name,"

New Century Version
He took twelve stones, one stone for each of the twelve tribes, the number of Jacob's sons. (The Lord changed Jacob's name to Israel.)

New English Translation
Then Elijah took twelve stones, corresponding to the number of tribes that descended from Jacob, to whom the Lord had said, "Israel will be your new name."

Amplified Bible
Then Elijah took twelve stones in accordance with the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, "Israel shall be your name."

New American Standard Bible
Then Elijah took twelve stones, corresponding to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, "Israel shall be your name."

Geneva Bible (1587)
And Eliiah tooke twelue stones, according to the nomber of the tribes of the sonnes of Iaakob, (vnto whome the worde of the Lord came, saying, Israel shalbe thy name)

Legacy Standard Bible
Then Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of Yahweh had come, saying, "Israel shall be your name."

Complete Jewish Bible
Eliyahu took twelve stones, in keeping with the number of tribes of the sons of Ya‘akov, to whom the word of Adonai had come, saying, "Your name is to be Isra'el."

Darby Translation
And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of Jehovah came saying, Israel shall be thy name;

Easy-to-Read Version
Elijah found twelve stones. There was one stone for each of the twelve tribes. These twelve tribes were named for the twelve sons of Jacob, the man who the Lord had named Israel.

George Lamsa Translation
And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be your name;

Good News Translation
He took twelve stones, one for each of the twelve tribes named for the sons of Jacob, the man to whom the Lord had given the name Israel.

Lexham English Bible
Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of God came, saying, "Israel shall be your name."

Literal Translation
And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the Word of Jehovah came, saying, Israel shall be your name.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
& toke twolue stones acordinge to the nombre of ye trybes of the childre of Iacob (vnto whom the worde of the LORDE spake, and sayde: Thy name shal be Israel)

American Standard Version
And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of Jehovah came, saying, Israel shall be thy name.

Bible in Basic English
And Elijah took twelve stones, the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the Lord had said, Israel will be your name:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And Elias toke twelue stones, according to the number of the twelue tribes of the sonnes of Iacob, vnto whom the word of the Lorde came, saying: Israel shalbe thy name.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying: 'Israel shall be thy name.'

King James Version (1611)
And Eliiah tooke twelue stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sonnes of Iacob, vnto whome the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall bee thy name.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Eliu took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, as the Lord spoke to him, saying, Israel shall be thy name.

English Revised Version
And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name.

Berean Standard Bible
And Elijah took twelve stones-one for each tribe of Jacob's descendants to whom the word of the LORD had come and said, "Israel shall be your name."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And he took twelue stonys, bi the noumbre of lynagis of sones of Jacob, to which Jacob the word of the Lord was maad, and seide, Israel schal be thi name.

Young's Literal Translation
and Elijah taketh twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of Jehovah was, saying, `Israel is thy name;'

Update Bible Version
And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of Yahweh came, saying, Israel shall be your name.

Webster's Bible Translation
And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name:

World English Bible
Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of Yahweh came, saying, Israel shall be your name.

New King James Version
And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, "Israel shall be your name." Genesis 32:28">[fn]

New Living Translation
He took twelve stones, one to represent each of the tribes of Israel,

New Life Bible
Then Elijah took twelve stones, by the number of the families of Jacob's sons. The word of the Lord had come to Jacob's sons, saying, "Israel will be your name."

New Revised Standard
Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, "Israel shall be your name";

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
unto whom the word of Yahweh came, saying - Israel, shall be thy name;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob to whom the word of the Lord came, saying: Israel shall be thy name.

Revised Standard Version
Eli'jah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD came, saying, "Israel shall be your name";

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, "Israel shall be your name."

Contextual Overview

²¹ Elijah stood in front of them and said, "How much longer will you try to have things both ways? If the Lord is God, worship him! But if Baal is God, worship him!" The people did not say a word. ²² Then Elijah continued: I am the Lord 's only prophet, but Baal has four hundred fifty prophets. ²³ Bring us two bulls. Baal's prophets can take one of them, kill it, and cut it into pieces. Then they can put the meat on the wood without lighting the fire. I will do the same thing with the other bull, and I won't light a fire under it either. ²⁴ The prophets of Baal will pray to their god, and I will pray to the Lord . The one who answers by starting the fire is God. "That's a good idea," everyone agreed. ²⁵ Elijah said to Baal's prophets, "There are more of you, so you go first. Pick out a bull and get it ready, but don't light the fire. Then pray to your god." ²⁶ They chose their bull, then they got it ready and prayed to Baal all morning, asking him to start the fire. They danced around the altar and shouted, "Answer us, Baal!" But there was no answer. ²⁷ At noon, Elijah began making fun of them. "Pray louder!" he said. "Baal must be a god. Maybe he's day-dreaming or using the toilet or traveling somewhere. Or maybe he's asleep, and you have to wake him up." ²⁸ The prophets kept shouting louder and louder, and they cut themselves with swords and knives until they were bleeding. This was the way they worshiped, ²⁹ and they kept it up all afternoon. But there was no answer of any kind. ³⁰ Elijah told everyone to gather around him while he repaired the Lord 's altar.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

twelve stones: Exodus 24:4, Joshua 4:3, Joshua 4:4, Joshua 4:20, Ezra 6:17, Jeremiah 31:1, Ezekiel 37:16-22, Ezekiel 47:13, Ephesians 2:20, Ephesians 4:4-6, Revelation 7:4-8, Revelation 21:12

saying: Genesis 32:28, Genesis 33:20, Genesis 35:10, 2 Kings 17:34, Isaiah 48:1

Reciprocal: Genesis 49:28 - every one Exodus 28:21 - according to the twelve Leviticus 24:5 - General Deuteronomy 27:5 - And there Joshua 4:9 - set up twelve Joshua 8:31 - altar Job 1:5 - according Matthew 19:28 - the twelve Romans 11:3 - digged James 1:1 - to

Cross-References

Genesis 18:20
The Lord said, "Abraham, I have heard that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are doing all kinds of evil things.

Genesis 18:22
The men turned and started toward Sodom. But the Lord stayed with Abraham,

Genesis 18:27
Abraham answered, "I am nothing more than the dust of the earth. Please forgive me, Lord , for daring to speak to you like this.

Matthew 7:7
Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you.

Matthew 7:11
As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give good things to people who ask.

Luke 11:8
He may not get up and give you the bread, just because you are his friend. But he will get up and give you as much as you need, simply because you are not ashamed to keep on asking.

Luke 18:1
Jesus told his disciples a story about how they should keep on praying and never give up:

Ephesians 6:18
Never stop praying, especially for others. Always pray by the power of the Spirit. Stay alert and keep praying for God's people.

Hebrews 4:16
So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob,.... Which he might very easily come at from the mountain:

unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name, which signifies one that has power with God, as Jacob had, when the word came to him to make a change in his name at Penuel, Genesis 32:28, and as Elijah hoped and believed he should have at this time, being a prophet, and a worshipper of Israel's God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 31. Took twelve stones — He did this to show that all the twelve tribes of Israel should be joined in the worship of Jehovah.