1 Kings 18:20-40

Evangelical Heritage Version

²⁰ So Ahab sent word to all the people of Israel, and he assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel.

²¹ Then Elijah said to all the people, “How long will you stagger around on two crutches? If the Lord is God, follow him. If Baal is God, follow him.” But the people did not answer him a single word.

²² Then Elijah said to the people, “I am the only one left of the Lord’s prophets, but the prophets of Baal total four hundred fifty men. ²³ Provide two bulls for us. Let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it up and place it on the firewood, but they are not to light the fire. I will prepare the other bull and place it on the firewood, but I will not light the fire. ²⁴ Then you will call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers with fire, he is God.”

All the people said, “This proposal is good.”

²⁵ Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull, and you go first because 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 which had been given to them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, “Baal! Answer us!” But there was not a sound. No one answered. So they staggered^[a] around the altar which they had made.

²⁷ When noon came, Elijah mocked them: “Shout louder! He is a god, isn’t he? He may be deep in thought or busy or on a journey. Perhaps he is asleep and will wake up!” ²⁸ So they cried out with a loud voice, and according to their practice they cut themselves with daggers and spears until their blood flowed. ²⁹ After noon, they kept up a prophetic frenzy until the time of the evening sacrifice, but there was no sound. No one answered. There was no response.

³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” So they came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. ³¹ Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come and had proclaimed, “Your name shall be Israel.” ³² He built the stones into an altar in the name of the Lord. Around it he made a trench big enough to hold about twenty-five pounds^[b] of seed. ³³ He arranged the wood, cut up the bull, and placed it on the wood.

Then he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the sacrifice and on the wood.” ³⁴ Then he said, “Do it again.” So they did it again. Then he said, “Do it a third time.” So they did it a third time. ³⁵ The water flowed all around the altar. It even filled the trench.

³⁶ When the time of the evening sacrifice had arrived, Elijah the prophet stood up and said, “O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and that I have done all these things by your word. ³⁷ Answer me, Lord! Answer me so that this people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you are turning their hearts back to you.”

³⁸ Fire from the Lord fell on the sacrifice and on the wood, the stones, and the dirt. It even licked up the water in the trench. ³⁹ When all the people saw this, they fell on their knees and said, “The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God!”

⁴⁰ Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let a single one of them escape!” So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Kishon River and slaughtered them there.