1-kings 19:20
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray you, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you. And he said to him, Go back again: for what have I done to you?
American King James Version (AKJV)
And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray you, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you. And he said to him, Go back again: for what have I done to you?
American Standard Version (ASV)
And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again; for what have I done to thee?
Basic English Translation (BBE)
And letting the oxen be where they were, he came running after Elijah, and said, Only let me give a kiss to my father and mother, and then I will come after you. But he said to him, Go back again; for what have I done to you?
Webster's Revision
And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said to him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee?
World English Bible
He left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, "Let me please kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you." He said to him, "Go back again; for what have I done to you?"
English Revised Version (ERV)
And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again; for what have I done to thee?
Definitions for 1-kings 19:20
Clarke's 1-kings 19:20 Bible Commentary
Let me - kiss my father and my mother - Elisha fully understood that he was called by this ceremony to the prophetic office: and it is evident that he conferred not with flesh and blood, but resolved, immediately resolved, to obey; only he wished to bid farewell to his relatives. See below.
What have I done to thee? - Thy call is not from me, but from God: to him, not to me, art thou accountable for thy use or abuse of it.
Barnes's 1-kings 19:20 Bible Commentary
Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father ... - Not an unnatural request before following his new spiritual father. Elijah sees in his address a divided heart, and will not give the permission or accept the service thus tendered. Hence, his cold reply. See Luke 9:61-62.
Go back again ... - i. e., "Go, return to thy plowing ... why shouldest thou quit it? Why take leave of thy friends and come with me? What have I done to thee to require such a sacrifice? for as a sacrifice thou evidently regardest it. Truly I have done nothing to thee. Thou canst remain as thou art."
Wesley's 1-kings 19:20 Bible Commentary
19:20 He ran - Being powerfully moved by God's spirit to follow Elijah, and wholly give up himself to his function. Let me kiss - Thatis, bid them farewell. Go - And take thy leave of them, and then returnto me again. For what, &c. - Either first, to hinder thee from performingthat office. That employment to which I have called thee, doth not requirean alienation of thy heart from thy parents, nor the total neglect of them.Or, secondly, to make such a change in thee, that thou shouldst be willingto forsake thy parents, and lands, and all, that thou mayest follow me.Whence comes this marvellous change? It is not from me, who did only throwmy mantle over thee; but from an higher power, even from God's spirit, whichboth changed thy heart, and consecrated thee to thy prophetical office:which therefore it concerns thee vigorously to execute, and wholly to devotethyself to it.