1 Kings 18:21-40

Living Bible

²¹ Then Elijah talked to them. “How long are you going to waver between two opinions?” he asked the people. “If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!”

²² Then Elijah spoke again. “I am the only prophet of the Lord who is left,” he told them, “but Baal has 450 prophets. ²³ Now bring two young bulls. The prophets of Baal may choose whichever one they wish and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood of their altar, but without putting any fire under the wood; and I will prepare the other young bull and lay it on the wood on the Lord’s altar, with no fire under it. ²⁴ Then pray to your god, and I will pray to the Lord; and the god who answers by sending fire to light the wood is the true God!” And all the people agreed to this test.

²⁵ Then Elijah turned to the prophets of Baal. “You first,” he said, “for there are many of you; choose one of the bulls and prepare it and call to your god; but don’t put any fire under the wood.”

²⁶ So they prepared one of the young bulls and placed it on the altar; and they called to Baal all morning, shouting, “O Baal, hear us!” But there was no reply of any kind. Then they began to dance around the altar. ²⁷ About noontime, Elijah began mocking them.

“You’ll have to shout louder than that,” he scoffed, “to catch the attention of your god! Perhaps he is talking to someone, or is out sitting on the toilet, or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!”

²⁸ So they shouted louder and, as was their custom, cut themselves with knives and swords until the blood gushed out. ²⁹ They raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice, but there was no reply, no voice, no answer.

³⁰ Then Elijah called to the people, “Come over here.”

And they all crowded around him as he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down. ³¹ He took twelve stones, one to represent each of the tribes of Israel,^{[a] 32} and used the stones to rebuild the Lord’s altar. Then he dug a trench about three feet wide^[b] around the altar. ³³ He piled wood upon the altar and cut the young bull into pieces and laid the pieces on the wood.

“Fill four barrels with water,” he said, “and pour the water over the carcass and the wood.”

After they had done this he said, ³⁴ “Do it again.” And they did.

“Now, do it once more!” And they did; ³⁵ and the water ran off the altar and filled the trench.

³⁶ At the customary time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah walked up to the altar and prayed, “O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, prove today that you are the God of Israel and that I am your servant; prove that I have done all this at your command. ³⁷ O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.”

³⁸ Then, suddenly, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even evaporated all the water in the ditch!

³⁹ And when the people saw it, they fell to their faces upon the ground shouting, “Jehovah is God! Jehovah is God!”

⁴⁰ Then Elijah told them to grab the prophets of Baal. “Don’t let a single one escape,” he commanded.

So they seized them all, and Elijah took them to Kishon Brook and killed them there.