1 Kings 19
19
Elijah Runs Away to Mount Horeb
1Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done. He told her how Elijah had killed all the prophets of Baal with his sword. 2So Jezebel sent a message to Elijah. She said, “You can be sure that I will kill you, just as I killed the other prophets. I’ll do it by this time tomorrow. If I don’t, may the gods punish me greatly.”
3Elijah was afraid. So he ran for his life. He came to Beersheba in Judah. He left his servant there. 4Then he traveled for one day into the desert. He came to a small bush. He sat down under it. He prayed that he would die. “Lord, I’ve had enough,” he said. “Take my life. I’m no better than my people of long ago.” 5Then he lay down under the bush. And he fell asleep.
Suddenly an angel touched him. The angel said, “Get up and eat.” 6Elijah looked around. Near his head he saw some bread. It had been baked over hot coals. A jar of water was also there. So Elijah ate and drank. Then he lay down again.
7The angel of the Lord came to him a second time. He touched him and said, “Get up and eat. Your journey will be long and hard.” 8So he got up. He ate and drank. The food gave him new strength. He traveled for 40 days and 40 nights. He kept going until he arrived at Horeb. It was the mountain of God. 9There he went into a cave and spent the night.
The Lord Appears to Elijah
A message came to Elijah from the Lord. He said, “Elijah, what are you doing here?”
10He replied, “Lord God who rules over all, I’ve been very committed to you. The Israelites have turned their backs on your covenant. They have torn down your altars. They’ve put your prophets to death with their swords. I’m the only one left. And they are trying to kill me.”
11The Lord said, “Go out. Stand on the mountain in front of me. I am going to pass by.”
As the Lord approached, a very powerful wind tore the mountains apart. It broke up the rocks. But the Lord wasn’t in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake. But the Lord wasn’t in the earthquake. 12After the earthquake a fire came. But the Lord wasn’t in the fire. And after the fire there was only a gentle whisper. 13When Elijah heard it, he pulled his coat over his face. He went out and stood at the entrance to the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “Elijah, what are you doing here?”
14He replied, “Lord God who rules over all, I’ve been very committed to you. The Israelites have turned their backs on your covenant. They have torn down your altars. They’ve put your prophets to death with their swords. I’m the only one left. And they are trying to kill me.”
15The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came. Go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael as king over Aram. 16Also anoint Jehu as king over Israel. He is the son of Nimshi. And anoint Elisha from Abel Meholah as the next prophet after you. He is the son of Shaphat. 17Jehu will put to death anyone who escapes Hazael’s sword. And Elisha will put to death anyone who escapes Jehu’s sword. 18But I will keep 7,000 people in Israel for myself. They have not bowed down to Baal. And they have not kissed him.”
The Lord Chooses Elisha
19Elijah left Mount Horeb. He saw Elisha, the son of Shaphat. Elisha was plowing in a field. He was driving the last of 12 pairs of oxen. Elijah went up to him. He threw his coat around him. 20Then Elisha left his oxen. He ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said. “Then I’ll come with you.”
“Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”
21So Elisha left him and went back. He got his two oxen and killed them. He burned the plow to cook the meat. He gave it to the people, and they ate it. Then he started to follow Elijah. He became Elijah’s servant.
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Melaḵim Aleph (1 Kings) 19
19
1And when Aḥaḇ reported to Izeḇel all that Ěliyahu had done, also how he slew all the prophets with the sword,
2Izeḇel sent a messenger to Ěliyahu, saying, “So let the mighty ones do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.”
3And he feared, and rose up and ran for his life, and went to Be’ĕrsheḇa, which belongs to Yehuḏah, and left his servant there.
4But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree, and prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, יהוה, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”
5And he lay and slept under a broom tree, and see, a messenger touched him, and said to him, “Rise, eat.”
6And he looked and saw by his head a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and turned and lay down.
7And the messenger of יהוה came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Rise, eat, for the journey is too much for you.”
8And he rose up and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Ḥorĕḇ, the mountain of Elohim.
9And there he went into a cave and spent the night there. And see, the word of יהוה came to him, and said to him, “What are you doing here, Ěliyahu?”
10And he said, “I have been very jealous for יהוה Elohim of hosts, for the children of Yisra’ĕl have forsaken Your covenant. They have thrown down Your slaughter-places, and they have killed Your prophets with the sword, and I am left, I alone, and they seek my life, to take it.”
11And He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before יהוה.” And see, יהוה passed by, and a great and strong wind tearing the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces before יהוה – יהוה was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake – יהוה was not in the earthquake,
12and after the earthquake a fire – יהוה was not in the fire, and after the fire a still small voice.
13And it came to be, when Ěliyahu heard it, that he wrapped his face in his robe and went out and stood at the cave opening. And see, a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Ěliyahu?”
14And he said, “I have been very jealous for יהוה Elohim of hosts, for the children of Yisra’ĕl have forsaken Your covenant. They have thrown down Your slaughter-places, and they have killed Your prophets with the sword, and I am left, I alone, and they seek my life, to take it.”
15And יהוה said to him, “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Dammeseq. And you shall go in and anoint Ḥaza’ĕl as sovereign over Aram.
16“And anoint Yĕhu son of Nimshi as sovereign over Yisra’ĕl. And anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Aḇĕl Meḥolah as prophet in your place.
17“And it shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Ḥaza’ĕl, Yĕhu does kill. And whoever escapes from the sword of Yĕhu, Elisha does kill.
18“And I shall leave seven thousand in Yisra’ĕl, all whose knees have not bowed to Ba‛al, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
19And he went from there, and found Elisha son of Shaphat, who was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. And Ěliyahu passed by him and threw his robe on him.
20And he left the oxen and ran after Ěliyahu, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I follow you.” And he said to him, “Go, turn back, for what have I done to you?”
21And he turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and cooked their flesh, using the implements of the oxen, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he rose up and followed Ěliyahu, and became his servant.
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