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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1 Kings 19: NIrV
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Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®
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I Kings 19
19
Elijah Escapes from Jezebel
1And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had #1 Kin. 18:40executed all the prophets with the sword. 2Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, #Ruth 1:17; 1 Kin. 20:10; 2 Kin. 6:31“So let the gods 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 when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, 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 he #Num. 11:15; Jer. 20:14–18; Jon. 4:3, 8prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”
5Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” 6Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. 7And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 8So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and #Ex. 24:18; 34:28; Deut. 9:9–11, 18; Matt. 4:2forty nights as far as #Ex. 3:1; 4:27Horeb, the mountain of God.
9And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10So he said, #Rom. 11:3“I have been very #Num. 25:11, 13; Ps. 69:9zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and #1 Kin. 18:4killed Your prophets with the sword. #1 Kin. 18:22; Rom. 11:3I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”
God’s Revelation to Elijah
11Then He said, “Go out, and stand #Ex. 19:20; 24:12, 18on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord #Ex. 33:21, 22passed by, and #Ezek. 1:4; 37:7a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
13So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he #Ex. 3:6; Is. 6:2wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. #1 Kin. 19:9Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
14#1 Kin. 19:10And he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”
15Then the Lord said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; #2 Kin. 8:8–15and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. 16Also you shall anoint #2 Kin. 9:1–10Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And #1 Kin. 19:19–21; 2 Kin. 2:9–15Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. 17#2 Kin. 8:12; 13:3, 22It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will #2 Kin. 9:14—10:28kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, #(Hos. 6:5)Elisha will kill. 18#Rom. 11:4Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, #Hos. 13:2and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
Elisha Follows Elijah
19So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his #1 Sam. 28:14; 2 Kin. 2:8, 13, 14mantle on him. 20And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, #(Matt. 8:21, 22; Luke 9:61, 62); Acts 20:37“Please let me 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?”
21So Elisha turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and #2 Sam. 24:22boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant.
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.