²⁰ Ahab sent word to all the Israelites and brought the prophets together on Mount Carmel. ²¹ Elijah stood up in front of all the people and asked them, “How long will you try to have it both ways? If the Lord is God, follow him; if Baal is God, follow him.” The people didn’t say a word.

²² So Elijah told the people, “I’m the only surviving prophet of the Lord, but there are 450 prophets of Baal. ²³ Give us two bulls. Let the prophets of Baal choose one for themselves, cut it into pieces, lay it on the wood, but not set it on fire. I’ll do the same with the other bull.

²⁴ “You call on the name of your gods, but I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire is the real God.”

All the people answered, “That’s fine.”

²⁵ Elijah told the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves. Prepare yours first, because there are more of you. Call on the name of your god, but don’t set the wood on fire.”

²⁶ They took the bull he gave them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon. They said, “Baal, answer us!” But there wasn’t a sound or an answer. So they danced around the altar they had made. ²⁷ At noon Elijah started to make fun of them. “Shout louder, since he is a god. Maybe he’s thinking, relieving himself, or traveling! Maybe he’s sleeping, and you have to wake him!”

²⁸ So they shouted louder. They also cut themselves with swords and spears until their blood flowed. (This is what their ritual called for.) ²⁹ In the afternoon they continued to rant and rave until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no sound, no answer, no attention given to them.

³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come over here.” So all the people came to him. He rebuilt the Lord’s altar that had been torn down. ³¹ Elijah took 12 stones, one for each of the tribes named after Jacob’s sons. (The Lord had spoken his word to Jacob: “Your name will be Israel.”) ³² Elijah built an altar in the Lord’s name with those stones. He also made a trench that could hold 12 quarts of grain around the altar. ³³ He arranged the wood, cut up the bull, and put it on the wood.

³⁴ He said, “Fill four jars with water. Pour the water on the offering and on the wood.” Then he said, “Do it again,” and they did it again. Then he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. ³⁵ The water flowed around the altar, and even the trench was filled with water.

³⁶ When it was time to offer the sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward. He said, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, make known today that you are God in Israel and that I’m your servant and have done all these things by your instructions. ³⁷ Answer me, Lord! Answer me! Then these people will know that you, Lord, are God and that you are winning back their hearts.”

³⁸ So a fire from the Lord fell down and consumed the burnt offering, wood, stones, and dirt. The fire even dried up the water that was in the trench. ³⁹ All the people saw it and immediately bowed down to the ground. “The Lord is God!” they said. “The Lord is God!”

⁴⁰ Elijah told them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let any of them escape.” The people seized them, and Elijah took them to the Kishon River and slaughtered them there.

Jesus Prays for Himself, His Disciples, and His Church

17 After saying this, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the time is here. Give your Son glory so that your Son can give you glory. ² After all, you’ve given him authority over all humanity so that he can give eternal life to all those you gave to him. ³ This is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent. ⁴ On earth I have given you glory by finishing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ Now, Father, give me glory in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world existed.

⁶ “I made your name known to the people you gave me. They are from this world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me. They did what you told them. ⁷ Now they know that everything you gave me comes from you, ⁸ because I gave them the message that you gave me. They have accepted this message, and they know for sure that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.

⁹ “I pray for them. I’m not praying for the world but for those you gave me, because they are yours. ¹⁰ Everything I have is yours, and everything you have is mine. I have been given glory by the people you have given me. ¹¹ I won’t be in the world much longer, but they are in the world, and I’m coming back to you. Holy Father, keep them safe by the power of your name, the name that you gave me, so that their unity may be like ours. ¹² While I was with them, I kept them safe by the power of your name, the name that you gave me. I watched over them, and none of them, except one person, became lost. So Scripture came true.

¹³ “But now, ⌞Father,⌟ I’m coming back to you. I say these things while I’m still in the world so that they will have the same joy that I have. ¹⁴ I have given them your message. But the world has hated them because they don’t belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. ¹⁵ I’m not asking you to take them out of the world but to protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They don’t belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.

¹⁷ “Use the truth to make them holy. Your words are truth. ¹⁸ I have sent them into the world the same way you sent me into the world. ¹⁹ I’m dedicating myself to this holy work I’m doing for them so that they, too, will use the truth to be holy.

²⁰ “I’m not praying only for them. I’m also praying for those who will believe in me through their message. ²¹ I pray that all of these people continue to have unity in the way that you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they may be united with us so that the world will believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me. I did this so that they are united in the same way we are. ²³ I am in them, and you are in me. So they are completely united. In this way the world knows that you have sent me and that you have loved them in the same way you have loved me.

²⁴ “Father, I want those you have given to me to be with me, to be where I am. I want them to see my glory, which you gave me because you loved me before the world was made. ²⁵ Father, you have done what is right and the world didn’t know you. Yet, I knew you, and these ⌞disciples⌟ have known that you sent me. ²⁶ I have made your name known to them, and I will make it known so that the love you have for me will be in them and I will be in them.”