Chapter 18

Elijah and Ahab. ¹ Now after quite some time, the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.” ² Elijah went and showed himself to Ahab. There was a severe famine in Samaria.

³ Ahab summoned Obadiah, the major-domo of his household. (Now Obadiah greatly feared the Lord. ⁴ When Jezebel cut down the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took one hundred of the prophets and he hid them by fifties in a cave, and he provided them with bread and water.) ⁵ Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land where there are springs of water and through all the wadis. Perhaps you will find some green grass for the horses and donkeys so that we might not lose all of the animals.”

⁶ They divided the land between them, and they went through it. Ahab went in one direction, and Obadiah went in the other direction by himself. ⁷ As Obadiah was going along, he met Elijah. He recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is that you, my lord, Elijah?” ⁸ He said to him, “It is I. Go and tell your lord: ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’ ”

⁹ But he answered, “How have I sinned that you would hand your servant over to Ahab so that he will kill me? ¹⁰ As the Lord, your God, lives, there is no land or kingdom into which my lord has not sent to search for you. When they said, ‘he is not here,’ he made the kingdom and the nation swear an oath that they could not find you. ¹¹ And now you are telling me, ‘Go tell your lord: “Behold, Elijah is here.” ’ ¹² When I have left you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you off to some unknown place. When I go and tell Ahab, and he cannot find you, he will kill your servant who has feared the Lord from my youth. ¹³ Has it not been reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid one hundred of the Lord’s prophets by fifties in a cave and provided them with bread and water? ¹⁴ But now you are telling me, ‘Go, tell your lord: “Behold, Elijah is here.” ’ He will kill me.”

¹⁵ Elijah answered, “As the Lord of hosts before whom I stand lives, I will surely show myself to him today.”

¹⁶ So Obadiah went to Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. ¹⁷ When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?” ¹⁸ He answered, “It is not I who have troubled Israel. It is you and your father’s household who have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and have followed after Baal. ¹⁹ Now send word, and gather together all of Israel for me on Mount Carmel, along with four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and four hundred prophets of Asherah, those who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

²⁰ Elijah Destroys the Evil Prophets. So Ahab sent word to all of the Israelites, and he gathered together the prophets on Mount Carmel. ²¹ Elijah approached all of the people and said, “How long will you be stuck between two points of view? If the Lord is God, then follow him, but if it is Baal, then follow him.” But the people did not say a single thing to him.^[a]

²² Elijah then said to the people, “I am the only prophet of the Lord left, but there are four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. ²³ Now give us two oxen. They can choose which ox is theirs. Let them cut it up and lay it on the wood, but do not set it on fire. I will prepare the other ox and lay it on the wood, but I will not set it on fire. ²⁴ Call on the name of your God, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The God who answers with fire, that is God.” All of the people answered, “You have spoken well.”

²⁵ So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “You can be the first to choose one of the oxen for yourselves and prepare it because you are more numerous. Call upon the name of your gods, but do not set it on fire.”

²⁶ They took the ox that had been given them, and they prepared it. They called upon the name of Baal from the morning until noontime. They said, “Hear us, O Baal.” But there was no voice, and no one answered. They then leapt around on the altar they had built. ²⁷ At noon, Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry out loud, for he is a god. He might be meditating, or maybe he has gone aside. Perhaps he is on a journey, or maybe he is asleep and needs to be woken up.”

²⁸ So they cried out loud, and they slashed themselves with knives and swords as was their custom until blood gushed out from their bodies. ²⁹ In the afternoon they prophesied until the time of the evening sacrifice, but there was no voice, no answer, no one listened.

³⁰ Elijah said to all the people, “Come over here to me.” So all the people went over to him. He repaired the altar of God that had been torn down. ³¹ Elijah took twelve stones, the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob to whom the word of the Lord came saying, “Your name will be Israel.” ³² With the stones he built an altar to the name of the Lord. He dug a trench around the altar deep enough to hold two measures of seed. ³³ He piled up the wood, and cut up the ox into pieces. He laid them on the wood and said, “Fill four barrels with water and pour them on the burnt sacrifice and the wood.” ³⁴ Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time. Then he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. ³⁵ The water flowed around the altar, and the water filled the trench.

^36 [b]At the hour for the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet drew near and said, “O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are the God of Israel, and that I am your servant, and I have done all of these things by your command. ³⁷ Answer me, O Lord, answer me so that this people might know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”

³⁸ The fire of the Lord fell down and consumed the burnt offering as well as the wood, the stones, the soil, and even the water that it licked up from the trench. ³⁹ When all of the people saw this, they fell down upon their faces and said, “The Lord is God; the Lord is God!”

⁴⁰ Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Wadi Kishon and killed them there.

⁴¹ Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat, and drink, for I hear the sound of heavy rain.” ⁴² Ahab went to eat and drink, and Elijah climbed up to the top of Carmel. He cast himself down to the ground and placed his face between his knees.

⁴³ He said to his servant, “Go, now, and look out toward the sea.” He went and looked and said, “There is nothing.” Seven times he told him, “Go again.” ⁴⁴ The seventh time he said, “Behold, there is a small cloud like the shape of a man’s hand rising from out of the sea.” He said, “Go tell Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’ ”

⁴⁵ Meanwhile, the skies grew dark with clouds, the wind rose up, and it poured. Ahab rode off and went to Jezreel. ⁴⁶ The hand of the Lord was upon Elijah, and he girded up his loins^[c] and ran in front of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.