Elijah Flees from Jezebel

19 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done, and ^[a](A)how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. ² Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “^(B)So may the gods do to me and more so, if by about this time tomorrow I do not make your ^[b]life like the ^[c]life of one of them.” ³ And he ^[d]was afraid, and got up and ran for his ^[e]life and came to ^(C)Beersheba, which belongs to Judah; and he left his servant there. ⁴ But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree; and ^(D)he asked for himself to die, and said, “Enough! Now, Lord, take my ^[f]life, for I am no better than my fathers.” ⁵ Then he lay down and fell asleep under a broom tree; but behold, there was ^(E)an angel touching him, and he said to him, “Arise, eat!” ⁶ And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a round loaf of bread baked on hot coals, and a pitcher of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. ⁷ But the angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him, and said, “Arise, eat; because the journey is too long for you.” ⁸ So he arose and ate and drank, and he journeyed in the strength of that food for ^(F)forty days and forty nights to ^(G)Horeb, the mountain of God.

Elijah at Horeb

⁹ Then he came there to a cave and spent the night there; and behold, ^(H)the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁰ And he said, “^(I)I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of armies; for the sons of Israel have abandoned Your covenant, ^(J)torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. And ^(K)I alone am left; and they have sought to take my life.”

¹¹ So He said, “^(L)Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by! And ^(M)a great and powerful wind was tearing out the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² And after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire, ^(N)a sound of a gentle blowing. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, ^(O)he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, ^(P)a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁴ Then he said, “^(Q)I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of armies; for the sons of Israel have abandoned Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they have sought to take my life.”

¹⁵ The Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; and when you have arrived, ^(R)you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram. ¹⁶ You shall also anoint ^(S)Jehu the son of Nimshi king over Israel; and you shall anoint ^(T)Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. ¹⁷ And it shall come about that the ^(U)one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu ^(V)shall put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death. ^18 (W)Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not ^(X)kissed him.”

¹⁹ So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat while he was plowing, with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he with the twelfth. And Elijah came over to him and threw ^(Y)his cloak on him. ²⁰ Then he left the oxen behind and ran after Elijah, and said, “Please ^(Z)let me kiss my father and my mother, then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back, for ^[g]what have I done to you?” ²¹ So he returned from following him, and took the pair of oxen and sacrificed them, and ^(AA)cooked their meat with the implements of the oxen, and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he got up and followed Elijah and served him.

Paul’s Ministry

2 For you yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our ^[a](A)reception among you ^(B)was not in vain, ² but after we had already suffered and been ^(C)treated abusively in ^(D)Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God ^(E)to speak to you the ^(F)gospel of God ^[b]amid much ^[c](G)opposition. ³ For our ^(H)exhortation does not come from ^(I)error or ^(J)impurity or ^[d]by way of ^(K)deceit; ^4 (L)but just as we have been approved by God to be ^(M)entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, ^(N)not intending to please people, but to please God, who ^[e](O)examines our hearts. ⁵ For we never came ^[f]with flattering speech, as you know, nor with ^(P)a pretext ^[g]for greed—^(Q)God is our witness— ⁶ nor did we ^(R)seek honor from people, either from you or from others, though ^[h]we could have ^[i]asserted our authority as ^(S)apostles of Christ. ⁷ But we ^[j]proved to be ^[k](T)gentle ^[l]among you. ^(U)As a nursing mother ^[m]tenderly cares for her own children, ⁸ in the same way we had a fond affection for you and were delighted to ^(V)share with you not only the ^(W)gospel of God, but also our own ^[n]lives, because you had become ^[o]very dear to us.

⁹ For you recall, brothers and sisters, our ^(X)labor and hardship: it was by ^(Y)working night and day so as not to be a ^(Z)burden to any of you, that we proclaimed to you the ^(AA)gospel of God. ¹⁰ You are witnesses, and so is ^(AB)God, of ^(AC)how devoutly and rightly and blamelessly we ^[p]behaved toward you ^[q]believers; ¹¹ just as you know how we were ^(AD)exhorting and encouraging and ^(AE)imploring each one of you as ^(AF)a father would his own children, ¹² so that you would ^(AG)walk in a manner worthy of the God who ^(AH)calls you into His own kingdom and ^(AI)glory.

¹³ For this reason we also constantly ^(AJ)thank God that when you received the ^(AK)word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it ^(AL)not as the word of mere men, but as what it really is, the word of God, ^(AM)which also is at work in you who believe. ¹⁴ For you, brothers and sisters, became ^(AN)imitators of ^(AO)the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are ^(AP)in Judea, for ^(AQ)you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, ^(AR)even as they did from the Jews, ^15 (AS)who both killed the Lord Jesus and ^(AT)the prophets, and ^[r]drove us out. ^[s]They are not pleasing to God, ^[t]but hostile to all people, ^16 (AU)hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles ^(AV)so that they may be saved; with the result that they always ^[u](AW)reach the limit of their sins. But ^(AX)wrath has come upon them ^[v]fully.

¹⁷ But we, brothers and sisters, having been orphaned from you by absence for a ^[w]short while—^(AY)in ^[x]person, not in ^[y]spirit—were all the more eager with great desire ^(AZ)to see your face. ^18 [z]For ^(BA)we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, ^[aa](BB)more than once—and ^(BC)Satan ^(BD)hindered us. ¹⁹ For who is our hope, or ^(BE)joy or crown of pride, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His ^[ab](BF)coming? Or is it not indeed you? ²⁰ For you are ^(BG)our glory and joy.