3 Kings 18
18
1After many days the word of the Lord came to Elias, in the third year, saying: Go and shew thyself to Achab, that I may give rain upon the face of the earth.
2And Elias went to shew himself to Achab: and there was a grievous famine in Samaria.
3And Achab called Abdias, the governor of his house. Now Abdias feared the Lord very much.
4For when Jezabel killed the prophets of the Lord, he took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifty and fifty in caves, and fed them with bread and water.
5And Achab said to Abdias: Go into the land unto all fountains of waters, and into all valleys, to see if we can find grass, and save the horses and mules, that the beasts may not utterly perish.
6And they divided the countries between them, that they might go round about them: Achab went one way, and Abdias another way by himself.
7And as Abdias was in the way Elias met him. And he knew him, and fell on his face, and said: Art thou my lord Elias?
8And he answered: I am. Go, and tell thy master: Elias is here.
9And he said: What have I sinned, that thou wouldst deliver me thy servant into the hand of Achab, that he should kill me?
10As the Lord thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee. And when all answered: He is not here, he took an oath of every kingdom and nation, because thou wast not found.
11And now thou sayest to me: Go, and tell thy master: Elias is here.
12And when I am gone from thee, the spirit of the Lord will carry thee into a place that I know not: and I shall go in and tell Achab, and he not finding thee will kill me. But thy servant feareth the Lord from his infancy.
13Hath it not been told thee, my lord, what I did when Jezabel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred men of the prophets of the Lord by fifty and fifty in caves, and fed them with bread and water?
14And now thou sayest: Go, and tell thy master: Elias is here; that he may kill me.
15And Elias said: As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whose face I stand, this day I will shew myself unto him.
16Abdias therefore went to meet Achab, and told him: and Achab came to meet Elias.
17And when he had seen him, he said: Art thou he that troublest Israel?
18And he said: I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, who have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and have followed Baalim.
19Nevertheless send now, and gather unto me all Israel, unto mount Carmel: and the prophets of Baal, four hundred and fifty: and the prophets of the groves four hundred, who eat at Jezabel's table.
20Achab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered together the prophets unto mount Carmel.
21And Elias coming to all the people said: How long do you halt between two sides? If the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word.
22And Elias said again to the people: I only remain a prophet of the Lord: but the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty men.
23Let two bullocks be given us, and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces and lay it upon wood, but put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it.
24Call ye on the names of your gods, and I will call on the name of my Lord: and the God that shall answer by fire, let him be God. And all the people answering said: A very good proposal.
25Then Elias said to the prophets of Baal: Choose you one bullock, and dress it first, because you are many: and call on the names of your gods, but put no fire under.
26And they took the bullock which he gave them, and dressed it. And they called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying: O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered: and they leaped over the altar that they had made.
27And when it was now noon, Elias jested at them, saying: Cry with a louder voice; for he is a God, and perhaps he is talking, or is in an inn, or on a journey; or perhaps he is asleep, and must be awaked.
28So they cried with a loud voice, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till they were all covered with blood.
29And after midday was past, and while they were prophesying, the time was come of offering sacrifice: and there was no voice heard, nor did any one answer, nor regard them as they prayed.
30Elias said to all the people: Come ye unto me. And the people coming near unto him, he repaired the altar of the Lord, that was broken down.
31And 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.
32And he built with the stones an altar to the name of the Lord: and he made a trench for water, of the breadth of two furrows round about the altar.
33And he laid the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid it upon the wood.
34And he said: Fill four buckets with water, and pour it upon the burnt-offering, and upon the wood. And again he said: Do the same the second time. And when they had done it the second time, he said: Do the same also the third time. And they did so the third time.
35And the water run round about the altar: and the trench was filled with water.
36And when it was now time to offer the holocaust, Elias the prophet came near and said: O Lord God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel, shew this day that thou art the God of Israel, and I thy servant, and that according to thy commandment I have done all these things.
37Hear me, O Lord, hear me: that this people may learn, that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart again.
38Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
39And when all the people saw this, they fell on their faces. And they said: The Lord he is God; the Lord he is God.
40And Elias said to them: Take the prophets of Baal, and let not one of them escape. And when they had taken them, Elias brought them down to the torrent Cison, and killed them there.
41And Elias said to Achab: Go up, eat, and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.
42Achab went up to eat and drink. And Elias went up to the top of Carmel, and casting himself down upon the earth put his face between his knees.
43And he said to his servant: Go up, and look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said: There is nothing. And again he said to him: Return seven times.
44And at the seventh time, behold, a little cloud arose out of the sea like a man's foot. And he said: Go up and say to Achab: Prepare thy chariot and go down, lest the rain prevent thee.
45And while he turned himself this way and that way, behold, the heavens grew dark, with clouds, and wind: and there fell a great rain. And Achab getting up went away to Jezrahel.
46And the hand of the Lord was upon Elias: and he girded up his loins and ran before Achab, till he came to Jezrahel.
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3 Kings 18: DRC1752
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
1 Kings 18
18
Elijah Proves He Is the Lord's Prophet
1-2For three years no rain fell in Samaria, and there was almost nothing to eat anywhere. The Lord said to Elijah, “Go and meet with King Ahab. I will soon make it rain.” So Elijah went to see Ahab.
3-4At that time Obadiah was in charge of Ahab's palace, but he faithfully worshiped the Lord. In fact, when Jezebel was trying to kill the Lord's prophets, Obadiah hid 100 of them in two caves and gave them food and water.
Ahab sent for Obadiah 5and said, “We have to find something for our horses and mules to eat. If we don't, we will have to kill them. Let's look around every creek and spring in the country for some grass. 6You go one way, and I'll go the other.” Then they left in separate directions.
7As Obadiah was walking along, he met Elijah. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down, and asked, “Elijah, is it really you?”
8“Yes. Go tell Ahab I'm here.”
9Obadiah replied:
King Ahab would kill me if I told him that. And I haven't even done anything wrong. 10I swear to you in the name of the living Lord your God that the king has looked everywhere for you. He sent people to look in every country, and when they couldn't find you, he made the leader of each country swear that you were not in that country. 11Do you really want me to tell him you're here?
12What if the Lord's Spirit takes you away as soon as I leave? When Ahab comes to get you, he won't find you. Then he will surely kill me.
I have worshiped the Lord since I was a boy. 13I even hid 100 of the Lord's prophets in caves when Jezebel was trying to kill them. I also gave them food and water. 14Do you really want me to tell Ahab you're here? He will kill me!
15Elijah said, “I'm a servant of the living Lord All-Powerful, and I swear in his name that I will meet with Ahab today.”
16Obadiah left and told Ahab where to find Elijah.
Ahab went to meet Elijah, 17and when he saw him, Ahab shouted, “There you are, the biggest troublemaker in Israel!”
18Elijah answered:
You're the troublemaker—not me! You and your family have disobeyed the Lord's commands by worshiping Baal.
19Call together everyone from Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. Be sure to bring along the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table.
20Ahab got everyone together, then they went to meet Elijah on Mount Carmel. 21Elijah 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.
22Then Elijah continued:
I am the Lord's only prophet, but Baal has 450 prophets.
23Bring 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.
24The 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.
25Elijah 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.”
26They 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.
27At noon, Elijah began making fun of them. “Pray louder!” he said. “Baal must be a god. Maybe he's daydreaming or using the toilet or traveling somewhere. Or maybe he's asleep, and you have to wake him up.”
28The prophets kept shouting louder and louder, and they cut themselves with swords and knives until they were bleeding. This was the way they worshiped, 29and they kept it up until time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no answer of any kind.
30Elijah told everyone to gather around him while he repaired the Lord's altar. 31-32#Gn 32.28; 35.9-11. 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 14 liters. 33He placed the wood on the altar, then they cut the bull into pieces and laid the meat on the wood.
He told the people, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it over the meat and the wood.” After they did this, 34he told them to do it two more times. They did exactly as he said 35until finally, the water ran down the altar and filled the ditch.
36When it was time for the evening sacrifice, Elijah prayed:
Our Lord, you are the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Now, prove that you are the God of this nation,#18.36 this nation: Hebrew “Israel.” and that I, your servant, have done this at your command. 37Please answer me, so these people will know that you are the Lord God, and that you will turn their hearts back to you.#18.37 will turn … to you: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
38The Lord immediately sent fire, and it burned up the sacrifice, the wood, and the stones. It scorched the ground everywhere around the altar and dried up every drop of water in the ditch. 39When the crowd saw what had happened, they all bowed down and shouted, “The Lord is God! The Lord is God!”
40Just then, Elijah said, “Grab the prophets of Baal! Don't let any of them get away.”
So the people captured the prophets and took them to Kishon River, where Elijah killed every one of them.
It Starts To Rain
41Elijah told Ahab, “Get something to eat and drink. I hear a heavy rain coming.”
42 #
Jas 5.18. Ahab left, but Elijah climbed back to the top of Mount Carmel. Then he stooped down with his face almost to the ground 43and said to his servant, “Look toward the sea.”
The servant left. And when he came back, he said, “I looked, but I didn't see anything.” Elijah told him to look seven more times.
44After the seventh time the servant replied, “I see a small cloud coming this way. But it's no bigger than a fist.”
Elijah told him, “Tell Ahab to get his chariot ready and start home now. Otherwise, the rain will stop him.”
45-46A few minutes later, it got very cloudy and windy, and rain started pouring down. So Elijah wrapped his coat around himself, and the Lord gave him strength to run all the way to Jezreel. Ahab followed in his chariot.
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