Elijah and Obadiah

18 After a long time, in the third^(A) year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Go and present^(B) yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain^(C) on the land.” ² So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.

Now the famine was severe^(D) in Samaria, ³ and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his palace administrator.^(E) (Obadiah was a devout believer^(F) in the Lord. ⁴ While Jezebel^(G) was killing off the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden^(H) them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied^(I) them with food and water.) ⁵ Ahab had said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs^(J) and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals.”^{(K) 6} So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another.

⁷ As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized^(L) him, bowed down to the ground, and said, “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?”

⁸ “Yes,” he replied. “Go tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’”

⁹ “What have I done wrong,” asked Obadiah, “that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? ¹⁰ As surely as the Lord your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look^(M) for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. ¹¹ But now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ ¹² I don’t know where the Spirit^(N) of the Lord may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the Lord since my youth. ¹³ Haven’t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. ¹⁴ And now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ He will kill me!”

¹⁵ Elijah said, “As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present^(O) myself to Ahab today.”

Elijah on Mount Carmel

¹⁶ So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. ¹⁷ When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler^(P) of Israel?”

¹⁸ “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you^(Q) and your father’s family have. You have abandoned^(R) the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. ¹⁹ Now summon^(S) the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel.^(T) And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”^(U)

²⁰ So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel.^{(V) 21} Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver^(W) between two opinions? If the Lord^(X) is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”

But the people said nothing.

²² Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left,^(Y) but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets.^{(Z) 23} Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. ²⁴ Then you call^(AA) on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord.^(AB) The god who answers by fire^(AC)—he is God.”

Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”

²⁵ Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” ²⁶ So they took the bull given them and prepared it.

Then they called^(AD) on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response;^(AE) no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

²⁷ At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.”^{(AF) 28} So they shouted louder and slashed^(AG) themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. ²⁹ Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice.^(AH) But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.^(AI)

³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar^(AJ) of the Lord, which had been torn down. ³¹ Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.”^{(AK) 32} With the stones he built an altar in the name^(AL) of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs^[a] of seed. ³³ He arranged^(AM) the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”

³⁴ “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.

“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. ³⁵ The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.

³⁶ At the time^(AN) of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham,^(AO) Isaac and Israel, let it be known^(AP) today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.^{(AQ) 37} Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know^(AR) that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”

³⁸ Then the fire^(AS) of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

³⁹ When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate^(AT) and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”^(AU)

⁴⁰ Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley^(AV) and slaughtered^(AW) there.

⁴¹ And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” ⁴² So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.^(AX)

⁴³ “Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked.

“There is nothing there,” he said.

Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.”

⁴⁴ The seventh time^(AY) the servant reported, “A cloud^(AZ) as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”

So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”

⁴⁵ Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain^(BA) started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.^{(BB) 46} The power^(BC) of the Lord came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt,^(BD) he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

The Rich and the Kingdom of God^(A)

¹⁷ As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees^(B) before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”^(C)

¹⁸ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’^[a]”^(D)

²⁰ “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

²¹ Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor,^(E) and you will have treasure in heaven.^(F) Then come, follow me.”^(G)

²² At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

²³ Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich^(H) to enter the kingdom of God!”

²⁴ The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is^[b] to enter the kingdom of God!^{(I) 25} It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”^(J)

²⁶ The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

²⁷ Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”^(K)

²⁸ Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”^(L)

²⁹ “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel ³⁰ will fail to receive a hundred times as much^(M) in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come^(N) eternal life.^{(O) 31} But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”^(P)

Jesus Predicts His Death a Third Time^(Q)

³² They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve^(R) aside and told them what was going to happen to him. ³³ “We are going up to Jerusalem,”^(S) he said, “and the Son of Man^(T) will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law.^(U) They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, ³⁴ who will mock him and spit on him, flog him^(V) and kill him.^(W) Three days later^(X) he will rise.”^(Y)

The Request of James and John^(Z)

³⁵ Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

³⁶ “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

³⁷ They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”^(AA)

³⁸ “You don’t know what you are asking,”^(AB) Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup^(AC) I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”^(AD)

³⁹ “We can,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with,^{(AE) 40} but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

⁴¹ When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. ⁴² Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ⁴³ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,^{(AF) 44} and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,^(AG) and to give his life as a ransom for many.”^(AH)

Blind Bartimaeus Receives His Sight^(AI)

⁴⁶ Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. ⁴⁷ When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth,^(AJ) he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David,^(AK) have mercy on me!”

⁴⁸ Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁹ Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”

So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” ⁵⁰ Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

⁵¹ “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.

The blind man said, “Rabbi,^(AL) I want to see.”

⁵² “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.”^(AM) Immediately he received his sight and followed^(AN) Jesus along the road.