The Prophets of Baal Defeated

²⁰ So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. ²¹ And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long ^(A)will you go limping between two different opinions? ^(B)If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word. ²² Then Elijah said to the people, ^(C)“I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are ^(D)450 men. ²³ Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. ²⁴ And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the Lord, and the God who ^(E)answers by fire, he is God.” And all the people answered, “It is well spoken.” ²⁵ Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many, and call upon the name of your god, but put no fire to it.” ²⁶ And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made. ²⁷ And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” ²⁸ And they cried aloud and ^(F)cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. ²⁹ And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of ^(G)the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.

³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been ^(H)thrown down. 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, ^(I)“Israel shall be your name,” ³² and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two seahs^[a] of seed. ^33 (J)And he put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “Fill four jars with water and ^(K)pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” ³⁴ And he said, “Do it a second time.” And they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time.” And they did it a third time. ³⁵ And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water.

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

¹⁰ When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel ^(A)cried out to the Lord. ¹¹ They ^(B)said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? ¹² Is not this what ^(C)we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” ¹³ And Moses said to the people, ^(D)“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For ^(E)the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. ^14 (F)The Lord will fight for you, and you have only ^(G)to be silent.”

¹⁵ The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. ^16 (H)Lift up your staff, and ^(I)stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. ¹⁷ And ^(J)I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and ^(K)I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. ¹⁸ And the Egyptians ^(L)shall know that I am the Lord, ^(M)when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

^19 (N)Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, ²⁰ coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night^[a] without one coming near the other all night.

²¹ Then Moses ^(O)stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by ^(P)a strong east wind all night and ^(Q)made the sea dry land, and the waters were ^(R)divided. ²² And ^(S)the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being ^(T)a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. ²³ The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. ²⁴ And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, ²⁵ clogging^[b] their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the ^(U)Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”

²⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(V)“Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” ^27 (W)So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea ^(X)returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord ^(Y)threw^[c] the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. ²⁸ The ^(Z)waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, ^(AA)not one of them remained. ²⁹ But the ^(AB)people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

³⁰ Thus the Lord ^(AC)saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. ^31 (AD)Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they ^(AE)believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.