1 Kings 18
18
1And the days are many, and the word of Jehovah hath been unto Elijah in the third year, saying, ‘Go, appear unto Ahab, and I give rain on the face of the ground;’
2and Elijah goeth to appear unto Ahab. And the famine is severe in Samaria,
3and Ahab calleth unto Obadiah, who [is] over the house — and Obadiah hath been fearing Jehovah greatly,
4and it cometh to pass, in Jezebel's cutting off the prophets of Jehovah, that Obadiah taketh a hundred prophets, and hideth them, fifty men in a cave, and hath sustained them with bread and water —
5and Ahab saith unto Obadiah, ‘Go through the land, unto all fountains of waters, and unto all the brooks, if so be we find hay, and keep alive horse and mule, and do not cut off any of the cattle.’
6And they apportion to themselves the land, to pass over into it; Ahab hath gone in one way by himself, and Obadiah hath gone in another way by himself;
7and Obadiah [is] in the way, and lo, Elijah — to meet him; and he discerneth him, and falleth on his face, and saith, ‘Art thou he — my lord Elijah?’
8And he saith to him, ‘I [am]; go, say to thy lord, Lo, Elijah.’
9And he saith, ‘What have I sinned, that thou art giving thy servant into the hand of Ahab — to put me to death?
10 Jehovah thy God liveth, if there is a nation and kingdom whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee; and they said, He is not, then he caused the kingdom and the nation to swear, that it doth not find thee;
11and now, thou art saying, Go, say to thy lord, Lo, Elijah;
12and it hath been, I go from thee, and the Spirit of Jehovah doth lift thee up, whither I know not, and I have come to declare to Ahab, and he doth not find thee, and he hath slain me; and thy servant is fearing Jehovah from my youth.
13‘Hath it not been declared to my lord that which I have done in Jezebel's slaying the prophets of Jehovah, that I hide of the prophets of Jehovah a hundred men, fifty by fifty in a cave, and sustained them with bread and water?
14and now thou art saying, Go, say to my lord, Lo, Elijah — and he hath slain me!’
15And Elijah saith, ‘Jehovah of Hosts liveth, before whom I have stood, surely to-day I appear unto him.’
16And Obadiah goeth to meet Ahab, and declareth [it] to him, and Ahab goeth to meet Elijah,
17and it cometh to pass at Ahab's seeing Elijah, that Ahab saith unto him, ‘Art thou he — the troubler of Israel?’
18And he saith, ‘I have not troubled Israel, but thou and the house of thy father, in your forsaking the commands of Jehovah, and thou goest after the Baalim;
19and now, send, gather unto me all Israel, unto the mount of Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the shrine, four hundred — eating at the table of Jezebel.’
20And Ahab sendeth among all the sons of Israel, and gathereth the prophets unto the mount of Carmel;
21and Elijah cometh nigh unto all the people, and saith, ‘Till when are ye leaping on the two branches? — if Jehovah [is] God, go after Him; and if Baal, go after him;’ and the people have not answered him a word.
22And Elijah saith unto the people, ‘I — I have been left a prophet of Jehovah — by myself; and the prophets of Baal [are] four hundred and fifty men;
23and let them give to us two bullocks, and they choose for themselves the one bullock, and cut it in pieces, and place [it] on the wood, and place no fire; and I — I prepare the other bullock, and have put [it] on the wood, and fire I do not place; —
24and ye have called in the name of your god, and I — I call in the name of Jehovah, and it hath been, the god who answereth by fire — He [is] the God.’ And all the people answer and say, ‘Good [is] the word.’
25And Elijah saith to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose for you the one bullock, and prepare first, for ye [are] the multitude, and call ye in the name of your god, and place no fire.’
26And they take the bullock that [one] gave to them, and prepare, and call in the name of Baal from the morning even till the noon, saying, ‘O Baal, answer us!’ and there is no voice, and there is none answering; and they leap on the altar that one had made.
27And it cometh to pass, at noon, that Elijah playeth on them, and saith, ‘Call with a loud voice, for he [is] a god, for he is meditating, or pursuing, or on a journey; it may be he is asleep, an doth awake.’
28And they call with a loud voice, and cut themselves, according to their ordinance, with swords and with spears, till a flowing of blood [is] on them;
29and it cometh to pass, at the passing by of the noon, that they feign themselves prophets till the going up of the present, and there is no voice, and there is none answering, and there is none attending.
30And Elijah saith to all the people, ‘Come nigh unto me;’ and all the people come nigh unto him, and he repaireth the altar of Jehovah that is broken down;
31and Elijah taketh twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of Jehovah was, saying, ‘Israel is thy name;’
32and he buildeth with the stones an altar, in the name of Jehovah, and maketh a trench, as about the space of two measures of seed, round about the altar.
33And he arrangeth the wood, and cutteth in pieces the bullock, and placeth [it] on the wood, and saith, ‘Fill ye four pitchers of water, and pour on the burnt-offering, and on the wood;
34and he saith, ‘Do [it] a second time;’ and they do [it] a second time; and he saith, ‘Do [it] a third time;’ and they do [it] a third time;
35and the water goeth round about the altar, and also, the trench he hath filled with water.
36And it cometh to pass, at the going up of the [evening-] present, that Elijah the prophet cometh nigh and saith, ‘Jehovah, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to-day let it be known that Thou [art] God in Israel, and I Thy servant, that by Thy word I have done the whole of these things;
37answer me, O Jehovah, answer me, and this people doth know that Thou [art] Jehovah God; and Thou hast turned their heart backward.’
38And there falleth a fire of Jehovah, and consumeth the burnt-offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and the water that [is] in the trench it hath licked up.
39And all the people see, and fall on their faces, and say, ‘Jehovah, He [is] the God, Jehovah, He [is] the God.’
40And Elijah saith to them, ‘Catch ye the prophets of Baal; let not a man escape of them;’ and they catch them, and Elijah bringeth them down unto the stream Kishon, and doth slaughter them there.
41And Elijah saith to Ahab, ‘Go up, eat and drink, because of the sound of the noise of the shower.’
42And Ahab goeth up to eat, and to drink, and Elijah hath gone up unto the top of Carmel, and he stretcheth himself out on the earth, and he placeth his face between his knees,
43and saith unto his young man, ‘Go up, I pray thee, look attentively the way of the sea;’ and he goeth up and looketh attentively, and saith, ‘There is nothing;’ and he saith, ‘Turn back,’ seven times.
44And it cometh to pass, at the seventh, that he saith, ‘Lo, a little thickness as the palm of a man is coming up out of the sea.’ And he saith, ‘Go up, say unto Ahab, ‘Bind — and go down, and the shower doth not restrain thee.’
45And it cometh to pass, in the meantime, that the heavens have become black — thick clouds and wind — and the shower is great; and Ahab rideth, and goeth to Jezreel,
46and the hand of Jehovah hath been on Elijah, and he girdeth up his loins, and runneth before Ahab, till thine entering Jezreel.
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1 Kings 18
18
Elijah and the Prophets of Baal
1After some time, in the third year of the drought, the LORD said to Elijah, “Go and present yourself to King Ahab, and I will send rain.” 2So Elijah started out.
The famine in Samaria was at its worst, 3so Ahab called in Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace. (Obadiah was a devout worshipper of the LORD, 4and when Jezebel was killing the LORD's prophets, Obadiah took a hundred of them, hid them in caves in two groups of fifty, and provided them with food and water.) 5Ahab said to Obadiah, “Let us go and look#18.5 One ancient translation Let us go and look; Hebrew You go and look. at every spring and every riverbed in the land to see if we can find enough grass to keep the horses and mules alive. Maybe we won't have to kill any of our animals.” 6They agreed on which part of the land each one would explore, and set off in different directions.
7As Obadiah was on his way, he suddenly met Elijah. He recognized him, bowed low before him, and asked, “Is it really you, sir?”
8“Yes, I'm Elijah,” he answered. “Go and tell your master the king that I am here.”
9Obadiah answered, “What have I done that you want to put me in danger of being killed by King Ahab? 10By the living LORD, your God, I swear that the king has made a search for you in every country in the world. Whenever the ruler of a country reported that you were not in his country, Ahab would require that ruler to swear that you could not be found. 11And now you want me to go and tell him that you are here? 12What if the Spirit of the LORD carries you off to some unknown place as soon as I leave? Then, when I tell Ahab that you are here, and he can't find you, he will put me to death. Remember that I have been a devout worshipper of the LORD ever since I was a boy. 13Haven't you heard that when Jezebel was killing the prophets of the LORD I hid a hundred of them in caves, in two groups of fifty, and supplied them with food and water? 14So how can you order me to go and tell the king that you are here? He will kill me!”
15Elijah answered, “By the living LORD, whom I serve, I promise that I will present myself to the king today.”
16So Obadiah went to King Ahab and told him, and Ahab set off to meet Elijah. 17When Ahab saw him, he said, “So there you are — the worst troublemaker in Israel!”
18“I'm not the troublemaker,” Elijah answered. “You are — you and your father. You are disobeying the LORD's commands and worshipping the idols of Baal. 19Now order all the people of Israel to meet me at Mount Carmel. Bring along the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of the goddess Asherah who are supported by Queen Jezebel.”
20So Ahab summoned all the Israelites and the prophets of Baal to meet at Mount Carmel. 21Elijah went up to the people and said, “How much longer will it take you to make up your minds? If the LORD is God, worship him; but if Baal is God, worship him!” But the people didn't say a word. 22Then Elijah said, “I am the only prophet of the LORD still left, but there are 450 prophets of Baal. 23Bring two bulls; let the prophets of Baal take one, kill it, cut it in pieces, and put it on the wood — but don't light the fire. I will do the same with the other bull. 24Then let the prophets of Baal pray to their god, and I will pray to the LORD, and the one who answers by sending fire — he is God.”
The people shouted their approval.
25Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Since there are so many of you, you take a bull and prepare it first. Pray to your god, but don't set fire to the wood.”
26They took the bull that was brought to them, prepared it, and prayed to Baal until noon. They shouted, “Answer us, Baal!” and kept dancing round the altar they had built. But no answer came.
27At noon Elijah started making fun of them: “Pray louder! He is a god! Maybe he is daydreaming or relieving himself, or perhaps he's gone on a journey! Or maybe he's sleeping, and you've got to wake him up!” 28So the prophets prayed louder and cut themselves with knives and daggers, according to their ritual, until blood flowed. 29They kept on ranting and raving until the middle of the afternoon; but no answer came, not a sound was heard.
30Then Elijah said to the people, “Come closer to me,” and they all gathered round him. He set about repairing the altar of the LORD which had been torn down. 31#Gen 32.28; 35.10He took twelve stones, one for each of the twelve tribes named after the sons of Jacob, the man to whom the LORD had given the name Israel. 32With these stones he rebuilt the altar for the worship of the LORD. He dug a trench round it, large enough to hold almost fourteen litres of water. 33Then he placed the wood on the altar, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the offering and the wood.” They did so, 34and he said, “Do it again” — and they did. “Do it once more,” he said — and they did. 35The water ran down round the altar and filled the trench.
36At the hour of the afternoon sacrifice the prophet Elijah approached the altar and prayed, “O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove now that you are the God of Israel and that I am your servant and have done all this at your command. 37Answer me, LORD, answer me, so that this people will know that you, the LORD, are God, and that you are bringing them back to yourself.”#18.37 you are bringing them back to yourself; or you yourself made them turn away from you.
38The LORD sent fire down, and it burnt up the sacrifice, the wood, and the stones, scorched the earth and dried up the water in the trench. 39When the people saw this, they threw themselves on the ground and exclaimed, “The LORD is God; the LORD alone is God!”
40Elijah ordered, “Seize the prophets of Baal; don't let any of them get away!” The people seized them all, and Elijah led them down to the River Kishon and killed them.
The End of the Drought
41Then Elijah said to King Ahab, “Now, go and eat. I hear the roar of rain approaching.” 42#Jas 5.18While Ahab went to eat, Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel, where he bowed down to the ground, with his head between his knees. 43He said to his servant, “Go and look towards the sea.”
The servant went and returned, saying, “I didn't see anything.” Seven times in all Elijah told him to go and look. 44The seventh time he returned and said, “I saw a little cloud no bigger than a man's hand, coming up from the sea.”
Elijah ordered his servant, “Go to King Ahab and tell him to get into his chariot and go back home before the rain stops him.”
45In a little while the sky was covered with dark clouds, the wind began to blow, and heavy rain began to fall. Ahab got into his chariot and started back to Jezreel. 46The power of the LORD came on Elijah; he fastened his clothes tight round his waist and ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.