1 Kings 18:16, 39, 18-27, 17, 29-38, 28

So Obadiah went to King Ahab and told him where Elijah was. King Ahab went to meet Elijah.

All the people saw this happen and bowed down to the ground and began saying, “The LORD is God! The is God! The LORD is God!”

Elijah answered, “I have not made trouble for Israel. You and your father’s family caused all the problems when you stopped obeying the LORD’s commands and began following the false gods. Now tell all the people of Israel to meet me at Mount Carmel. Also bring the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of the goddess Asherah, who get their support from Queen Jezebel.” So Ahab called all the Israelites and those prophets to Mount Carmel. Elijah came to all the people and said, “You must decide what you are going to do. How long will you keep jumping from one side to the other? If the LORD is the true God, follow him. But if Baal is the true God, then follow him!” The people said nothing. So Elijah said, “I am the only prophet of the LORD here, but there are 450 prophets of Baal. So bring us two bulls. Let the prophets of Baal have one bull. Let them kill it, cut it into pieces, and then put the meat on the wood. But don’t start the fire. I will do the same with the other bull, and I will not start the fire either. Prophets of Baal, pray to your god, and I will pray to the LORD. Whichever god answers the prayer and starts the fire is the true God.” All the people agreed that this was a good idea. Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “There are many of you, so you go first. Choose a bull and prepare it, but don’t start your fire.” So the prophets took the bull that was given to them and prepared it. They started praying to Baal and prayed until noon. They said, “Baal, please answer us!” But there was no sound. No one answered. Then they began jumping around on the altar they had built. At noon Elijah began to make fun of them. He said, “If Baal really is a god, maybe you should pray louder! Maybe he is busy. Maybe he is thinking about something, or maybe he stepped out for a moment! He could be sleeping! Maybe you should pray louder and wake him up!”

When Ahab saw Elijah he said, “Is that really you, the troublemaker of Israel?”

The afternoon passed but the fire still had not started. The prophets were out of control and continued to act this way until the time came for the evening sacrifice. But nothing happened—there was no answer from Baal. There was no sound. There was no one listening. Then Elijah said to all the people, “Now come here.” So they gathered around Elijah. The LORD’s altar had been torn down, so Elijah repaired it. 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. Elijah used these stones to repair the altar to honor the LORD. He dug a small ditch around the altar. It was wide enough and deep enough to hold about 4 gallons of water. Then Elijah put the wood on the altar. He cut the bull into pieces and laid the pieces on the wood. Then he said, “Fill four jars with water. Pour the water on the pieces of meat and on the wood.” Then Elijah said, “Do it again.” Then he said, “Do it a third time.” The water ran down off the altar and filled the ditch. At about the time for the afternoon sacrifice, the prophet Elijah approached the altar and prayed, “LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I ask you now to prove that you are the God of Israel and that I am your servant. Show these people that it was you who commanded me to do all these things. LORD, answer my prayer. Show these people that you, , answer my prayer. Show these people that you, LORD, are God and that you are the one who is bringing them back to you.” Then fire came down from the LORD and burned the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the ground around the altar. Then it dried up all the water in the ditch.

So the prophets prayed louder. They cut themselves with swords and spears. (This was the way they worshiped.) They cut themselves until they were bleeding all over.