Elijah Flees from Jezebel

19 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done, and [a](A)how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “(B)So may the gods do to me and more so, if by about this time tomorrow I do not make your [b]life like the [c]life of one of them.” And he [d]was afraid, and got up and ran for his [e]life and came to (C)Beersheba, which belongs to Judah; and he left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree; and (D)he asked for himself to die, and said, “Enough! Now, Lord, take my [f]life, for I am no better than my fathers.” Then he lay down and fell asleep under a broom tree; but behold, there was (E)an angel touching him, and he said to him, “Arise, eat!” And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a round loaf of bread baked on hot coals, and a pitcher of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. But the angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him, and said, “Arise, eat; because the journey is too long for you.” So he arose and ate and drank, and he journeyed in the strength of that food for (F)forty days and forty nights to (G)Horeb, the mountain of God.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 19:1 Lit all that he had
  2. 1 Kings 19:2 Lit soul
  3. 1 Kings 19:2 Lit soul
  4. 1 Kings 19:3 Reading of many mss; MT may read saw
  5. 1 Kings 19:3 Lit soul
  6. 1 Kings 19:4 Lit soul

Elijah Flees to Sinai

19 When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, including the way he had killed all the prophets of Baal. So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: “May the gods strike me and even kill me if by this time tomorrow I have not killed you just as you killed them.”

Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”

Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again.

Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.”

So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai,[a] the mountain of God.

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Footnotes

  1. 19:8 Hebrew to Horeb, another name for Sinai.