Elijah’s Message to Ahab

18 After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year of the drought,^[a] saying, “Go, present yourself to Ahab; I will send rain on the earth.”^(A)

²⁵ But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months and there was a severe famine over all the land,^(A)

¹⁷ Elijah was a human like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.^(A)

Elijah Predicts a Drought

17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe^[a] in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”^(A)

¹² The Lord will open for you his rich storehouse, the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all your undertakings. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow.^(A)

¹⁵ Elijah said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.”^{(A) 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 it you, you troubler of Israel?”^{(B) 18} He answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.^{(C) 19} Now therefore have all Israel assemble for me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.”^(D)

Elijah’s Triumph over the Priests of Baal

²⁰ So Ahab sent to all the Israelites and assembled the prophets at Mount Carmel. ²¹ Elijah then came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him.” The people did not answer him a word.^{(E) 22} Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets number four hundred fifty.^{(F) 23} Let two bulls be given to us; let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood but put no fire to it; I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood but put no fire to it. ²⁴ Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord; the god who answers by fire is indeed God.” All the people answered, “Well spoken!”^{(G) 25} Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many; then call on the name of your god, but put no fire to it.” ²⁶ So they took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, crying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice and no answer. They limped about the altar that they had made.^{(H) 27} At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud! Surely he is a god; either he is meditating, or he has wandered away, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” ²⁸ Then they cried aloud, and, as was their custom, they cut themselves with swords and lances until the blood gushed out over them.^{(I) 29} As midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice, no answer, and no response.^(J)

³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come closer to me,” and all the people came closer to him. First he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down;^{(K) 31} Elijah 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 your name”;^{(L) 32} with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. Then he made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two measures of seed.^{(M) 33} Next he put the wood in order, 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.”^{(N) 34} Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time. Again he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time, ³⁵ so that the water ran all around the altar and filled the trench also with water.

³⁶ At the time of the offering of the oblation, the prophet Elijah came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding.^{(O) 37} Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have turned their hearts back.” ³⁸ Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust and even licked up the water that was in the trench.^{(P) 39} When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord indeed is God; the Lord indeed is God.”^{(Q) 40} Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.” Then they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and killed them there.^(R)

² So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria.

⁴ I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

⁶ They have authority to shut the sky, so that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have authority over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.^(A)