Elijah Meets the King’s Servant

18 Some time later, in the third year of the famine,^[a] the Lord’s message came to Elijah, “Go, make an appearance before Ahab, so I may send rain on the surface of the ground.” ² So Elijah went to make an appearance before Ahab.

Now the famine was severe in Samaria. ³ So Ahab summoned Obadiah, who supervised the palace. (Now Obadiah was a very loyal follower of the Lord.^{[b] 4} When Jezebel was killing^[c] the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah took 100 prophets and hid them in two caves in two groups of fifty. He also brought them food and water.) ⁵ Ahab told Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grazing areas^[d] so we can keep the horses and mules alive and not have to kill^[e] some of the animals.” ⁶ They divided up the land between them to search it; Ahab went one way by himself and Obadiah went the other way by himself.