1 Kings 18
World English Bible
18 After many days, Yahweh’s word came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth.”
2 Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria. 3 Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared Yahweh greatly; 4 for when Jezebel cut off Yahweh’s prophets, Obadiah took one hundred prophets, and hid them fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) 5 Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land, to all the springs of water, and to all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we not lose all the animals.”
6 So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. 7 As Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him. He recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?”
8 He answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your lord, ‘Behold, Elijah is here!’”
9 He said, “How have I sinned, that you would deliver your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me? 10 As Yahweh your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. When they said, ‘He is not here,’ he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they didn’t find you. 11 Now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here.”’ 12 It will happen, as soon as I leave you, that Yahweh’s Spirit will carry you I don’t know where; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he can’t find you, he will kill me. But I, your servant, have feared Yahweh from my youth. 13 Wasn’t it told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed Yahweh’s prophets, how I hid one hundred men of Yahweh’s prophets with fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water? 14 Now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here”.’ He will kill me.”
15 Elijah said, “As Yahweh of Armies lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.” 16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”
18 He answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but you, and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken Yahweh’s commandments, and you have followed the Baals. 19 Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel to Mount Carmel, and four hundred fifty of the prophets of Baal, and four hundred of the prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
20 So Ahab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together to Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah came near to all the people, and said, “How long will you waver between the two sides? If Yahweh is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.”
The people didn’t say a word.
22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left as a prophet of Yahweh; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred fifty men. 23 Let them therefore give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under; and I will dress the other bull, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under it. 24 You call on the name of your god, and I will call on Yahweh’s name. The God who answers by fire, let him be God.”
All the people answered, “What you say is good.”
25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves, and dress it first; for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.”
26 They took the bull which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, “Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice, and nobody answered. They leaped about the altar which was made. 27 At noon, Elijah mocked them, and said, “Cry aloud; for he is a god. Either he is deep in thought, or he has gone somewhere, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he sleeps and must be awakened.”
28 They cried aloud, and cut themselves in their way with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. 29 When midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the evening offering; but there was no voice, no answer, and nobody paid attention.
30 Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me!”; and all the people came near to him. He repaired Yahweh’s altar that had been thrown down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom Yahweh’s word came, saying, “Israel shall be your name.” 32 With the stones he built an altar in Yahweh’s name. He made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two seahs[a] of seed. 33 He put the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, “Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering, and on the wood.” 34 He said, “Do it a second time;” and they did it the second time. He said, “Do it a third time;” and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.
36 At the time of the evening offering, Elijah the prophet came near, and said, “Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. 37 Hear me, Yahweh, hear me, that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God, and that you have turned their heart back again.”
38 Then Yahweh’s fire fell, and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces. They said, “Yahweh, he is God! Yahweh, he is God!”
40 Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Don’t let one of them escape!”
They seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and killed them there. 41 Elijah said to Ahab, “Get up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.”
42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bowed himself down on the earth, and put his face between his knees. 43 He said to his servant, “Go up now, and look toward the sea.”
He went up, and looked, and said, “There is nothing.”
He said, “Go again” seven times.
44 On the seventh time, he said, “Behold, a small cloud, like a man’s hand, is rising out of the sea.”
He said, “Go up, tell Ahab, ‘Get ready and go down, so that the rain doesn’t stop you.’”
45 In a little while, the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. 46 Yahweh’s hand was on Elijah; and he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
Footnotes
- 18:32 1 seah is about 7 liters or 1.9 gallons or 0.8 pecks
1 Kings 18
International Standard Version
Elijah Rebukes Ahab
18 Quite some time later—three years later!—this message from the Lord came to Elijah: “Go visit Ahab, and I’ll send some rain to the surface of the ground.” 2 So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab, right when the famine in Samaria was most severe.
3 Ahab called for Obadiah, his household supervisor. This man, who feared the Lord very much, 4 had taken 100 prophets and had hidden them by fifties in a cave, providing them with food and water when Jezebel was trying to destroy the Lord’s prophets.
5 Ahab had instructed Obadiah, “Go throughout the land to all of the water springs and to all of the valleys. Maybe we’ll find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive. Also, maybe we won’t have to kill some of our cattle.” 6 So they divided the land between them so they could conduct their survey. Ahab went off by himself in one direction and Obadiah went off by himself in the other.
7 While Obadiah was on the road, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him and bowed down with his face to the ground. “It’s you, isn’t it, my master Elijah?”
8 “I am,” he replied. “Go tell your master, ‘Look! Elijah!’”
9 But Obadiah replied, “What did I do wrong, that you would put me in a position where Ahab would execute me? 10 As surely as the Lord your God lives, there isn’t a nation or kingdom where my master hasn’t tried to find you. Whenever they would say ‘He isn’t here,’ he forced that kingdom or nation to swear that they hadn’t seen you. 11 But now you’re saying ‘Go tell your master, “Elijah is here!”’ 12 As soon as I’ve left you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you off to I don’t know where! Then when I go tell Ahab and he can’t find you, he’ll kill me, even though I have been your servant and have feared the Lord since I was young! 13 Hasn’t anyone told you, my master, what I did when Jezebel was killing the Lord’s prophets? I hid 100 of the Lord’s prophets by fifties in a cave and provided food and water for them. 14 Now you’re saying, ‘Go tell your master, “Elijah’s here!”’ He’s sure to kill me!”
15 But Elijah promised him, “As the Lord of the Heavenly Armies lives, in whose presence I stand, I will appear to Ahab today.”
16 So Obadiah went out to meet Ahab and reported to him. Then Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab asked him, “Is it really you, you destroyer of Israel?”
18 But Elijah[a] replied, “I’m no destroyer of Israel. But you and your ancestor’s household have been doing that, because you have abandoned the Lord’s commandments and have followed the Baals. 19 So go gather all of Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. Bring along 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah who are funded at Jezebel’s expense.”[b]
Elijah Defeats the Prophets of Baal
20 Ahab sent for the Israelis and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel, 21 where Elijah approached all the people and asked them, “How long will you keep hesitating[c] between both sides? If the Lord is God, go after him. If Baal, go after him.”
But the people didn’t say a word.
22 So Elijah told the people, “I’m the only one left over as a prophet of the Lord, am I? But Baal’s prophets number 450 men? 23 So let them provide two oxen. They can choose one ox for themselves. Cut it up, lay it on top of some wood, but don’t set fire to it. I will prepare the other ox and lay it on top of some wood, and I won’t set fire to it. 24 Then you can call on the name of your god, and I’ll call on the name of the Lord. Let the God who answers by fire be our God!”
“That’s a good idea!” all the people shouted.
25 So Elijah told the prophets of Baal, “Choose an ox for yourselves and you prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but don’t set fire to the offering.”
26 So they took the ox that was given to them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from early morning until noon. “Baal! Answer us!” they cried. But there was no response. Nobody answered. So they kept on dancing[d] around the altar that they had made.
27 Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them:
“Shout louder!
“He’s a god, so maybe he’s busy.
“Maybe he’s relieving himself.
“Maybe he’s busy someplace.
“Maybe he’s taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up.”
28 So the prophets of Baal[e] cried even louder and slashed themselves with swords and lances until their blood gushed out all over them, as was their custom. 29 They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention.
30 Eventually, Elijah told everybody, “Come here!” So everybody approached him, and he repaired the Lord’s altar that had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob’s descendants, to whom the message from the Lord had come that “Israel is to be your name.” 32 So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the Lord. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures[f] of seed. 33 Then he laid the wood in order, cut the bull into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood.
“Fill four pitchers with water,” he ordered. “Then pour them out on the burnt offering and the wood.”
34 “Do it a second time,” he ordered. So they did it a second time.
“Do it a third time,” he said. So they did it a third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and completely filled the trench.[g]
Elijah’s Prayer and God’s Answer by Fire
36 As the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. 37 Answer me, Lord! Answer me so that this people may know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again.”
38 Right then the Lord’s fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench! 39 When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out “The Lord is God! The Lord is God!”
40 But Elijah said, “Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don’t let even one of them get away.” So the people[h] seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi[i] Kishon and executed them there.
The Rain Storm Ends the Drought
41 After this, Elijah told Ahab, “Get up and have something to eat and drink, because there’s the sound of a coming rainstorm.” 42 So Ahab got up to get something to eat and drink while Elijah went back up to the top of Mount[j] Carmel, where he bowed low to the ground and placed his face between his knees.
43 Then he told his young servant, “Go and look toward the sea.”
So he went and looked out to sea. “Nothing there,” he said.
But Elijah told him to go back seven times. 44 On the seventh look, he said, “Look! There’s a cloud, a small one, about the size of a man’s hand. It’s coming up out of the sea!”
“Get up and find Ahab!” Elijah[k] said. “Tell him, ‘Mount your chariot and ride down the mountain[l] so the storm doesn’t stop you.’”
45 A little while later, the sky turned black with storm clouds and winds, and there was a heavy shower. So Ahab rode off to Jezreel. 46 After Ahab had left,[m] the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah, and he tucked his mantle into his belt and outran Ahab in a race to the city gate of Jezreel.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 18:18 Lit. he
- 1 Kings 18:19 Lit. who eat at Jezebel’s table
- 1 Kings 18:21 Lit. dancing; or limping
- 1 Kings 18:26 Or limping
- 1 Kings 18:28 Lit. So they
- 1 Kings 18:32 Lit. seahs; or hold four gallons; i.e. a trench encircling the altar and wide enough that a container holding about four gallons could be laid inside it
- 1 Kings 18:35 Lit. trench with water
- 1 Kings 18:40 Lit. So they
- 1 Kings 18:40 I.e. a seasonal stream or river that channels water during rain seasons but is dry at other times
- 1 Kings 18:42 The Heb. lacks Mount
- 1 Kings 18:44 Lit. he
- 1 Kings 18:44 The Heb. lacks the mountain
- 1 Kings 18:46 Lit. Then
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