Elijah Talks to God at Horeb

⁹ Elijah^[a] arrived at a cave and stayed there. All of a sudden this message came from the Lord: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁰ “I’ve been very zealous for the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies,” he replied. “The Israelis have abandoned your covenant, demolished your altars, executed your prophets with swords, and I—that’s right, just me!—am the only one left. Now they’re seeking my life, to get rid of me!”

¹¹ “Go out,” he responded, “and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord.” And there was the Lord, passing by! A tremendous, mighty windstorm was tearing at the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces in the presence of the Lord, but the Lord was not in the windstorm. After the wind there came an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake there came fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was the sound of a gentle whisper. ¹³ As soon as Elijah heard it, he covered his face in his mantle, went outside, and stood at the entrance to the cave. And there a voice spoke to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁴ “I’ve been very zealous for the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies,” he replied. “The Israelis have abandoned your covenant, demolished your altars, executed your prophets with swords, and I—that’s right, just me!—am the only one left. Now they’re seeking my life, to get rid of me!”

¹⁵ The Lord replied to him, “Go! Return to Damascus, and when you get there, anoint Hazael as king over Aram, ¹⁶ anoint Nimshi’s son Jehu as king over Israel, and anoint Shaphat’s son Elisha from Abel-meholah as a prophet to replace you. ¹⁷ Whoever escapes from Hazael’s sword Jehu will execute, and whoever escapes from Jehu’s sword Elisha will put to death. ¹⁸ Nevertheless, I’ve reserved 7,000 in Israel who have neither bowed their knees to Baal nor kissed him.”