Beginning

18 A long time passed. Then, in the third year, the word of Adonai came to Eliyahu: “Go, present yourself to Ach’av, and I will send rain down on the land.” ² When Eliyahu went to present himself to Ach’av, the famine in Shomron had become severe. ³ Ach’av called ‘Ovadyah, who was in charge of the palace. Now ‘Ovadyah greatly revered Adonai; ⁴ for example, when Izevel was murdering Adonai’s prophets, ‘Ovadyah took a hundred prophets, hid them in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. ⁵ Ach’av said to ‘Ovadyah, “Go throughout the land, and check all the springs and vadis; maybe we can find grass somewhere, so that we can keep the horses and mules alive and not lose all the animals.” ⁶ So they divided between them the territory to be visited; Ach’av went one way by himself, and ‘Ovadyah went another way by himself.

⁷ ‘Ovadyah was on the road when suddenly Eliyahu encountered him. ‘Ovadyah recognized him, fell on his face and said, “Is it really you, my lord Eliyahu?” ⁸ He answered, “Yes, it is I; go, tell your master, ‘Eliyahu is here.’” ⁹ ‘Ovadyah replied, “How have I sinned, that you would hand your servant over to Ach’av to kill me? ¹⁰ As Adonai your God lives, there can’t be a single nation or kingdom where my master hasn’t sent to search you out; and in each kingdom or nation where they said, ‘He isn’t here,’ he made them take an oath that they hadn’t found you. ¹¹ Now you say, ‘Go tell your master, “Eliyahu is here.”’ ¹² But as soon as I leave you, the Spirit of Adonai will carry you off to I don’t know where; so that when I come and tell Ach’av, and he can’t find you, he will kill me. But I your servant have revered Adonai from my youth — ¹³ wasn’t my lord told what I did when Izevel killed Adonai’s prophets, how I hid a hundred of Adonai’s prophets by fifties in caves and supplied their food and water? ¹⁴ Now you say, ‘Go tell your master, “Look, Eliyahu is here.”’ Why, he’ll kill me!” ¹⁵ Eliyahu said, “As Adonai-Tzva’ot lives, before whom I stand, I will present myself to him today.”

¹⁶ So ‘Ovadyah went, found Ach’av and told him; and Ach’av went to meet Eliyahu. ¹⁷ When Ach’av saw Eliyahu, Ach’av said to him, “Is it really you, you troubler of Isra’el?” ¹⁸ He answered, “I haven’t troubled Isra’el, you have, you and your father’s house, by abandoning Adonai’s mitzvot and following the ba‘alim. ¹⁹ Now order all Isra’el to assemble before me on Mount Karmel, along with the 450 prophets of Ba‘al and the 400 prophets of the asherah who eat at Izevel’s table.”

²⁰ Ach’av sent word to all the people of Isra’el and assembled the prophets together on Mount Karmel. ²¹ Eliyahu stepped forward before all the people and said, “How long are you going to jump back and forth between two positions? If Adonai is God, follow him; but if it’s Ba‘al, follow him!” The people answered him not a word. ²² Then Eliyahu said to the people, “I, I alone, am the only prophet of Adonai who is left, while Ba‘al’s prophets number 450. ²³ Let them give us two young bulls, and they can choose the bull they want for themselves. Then let them cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood but put no fire under it. I will prepare the other bull, lay it on the wood and put no fire under it. ²⁴ Then, you, call on the name of your god; and I will call on the name of Adonai; and the God who answers with fire, let him be God!” All the people answered, “Good idea! Agreed!”

²⁵ Then Eliyahu said to the prophets of Ba‘al, “Choose one bull for yourselves, and prepare it first; because there are many of you. Then call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.” ²⁶ They took the bull that was given to them, prepared it and called on the name of Ba‘al from morning till noon — “Ba‘al! Answer us!” But no voice was heard; and no one answered, as they jumped around on the altar they had made. ²⁷ Around noon Eliyahu began ridiculing them: “Shout louder! After all, he’s a god, isn’t he? Maybe he’s daydreaming, or he’s on the potty, or he’s away on a trip. Maybe he’s asleep, and you have to wake him up.” ²⁸ So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and knives, as their custom was, until blood gushed out all over them. ²⁹ By now it was afternoon, and they went on ranting and raving until it was time for the evening offering. But no voice came, no one answered, no one paid any attention.

³⁰ Then Eliyahu said to all the people, “Come here to me.” All the people came up to him, as he set about repairing the altar of Adonai that had been broken down. ³¹ Eliyahu took twelve stones, in keeping with the number of tribes of the sons of Ya‘akov, to whom the word of Adonai had come, saying, “Your name is to be Isra’el.” ³² With the stones he built an altar in the name of Adonai. Then he dug a trench around the altar large enough for half a bushel of grain. ³³ He arranged the wood, cut up the bull and laid it on the wood. ³⁴ Then he said, “Fill four pots with water, and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” They did it. “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again. “Do it a third time,” he said, and they did it a third time. ³⁵ By now the water was flowing around the altar, and it had filled the trench. ³⁶ Then, when it came time for offering the evening offering, Eliyahu the prophet approached and said, “Adonai, God of Avraham, Yitz’chak and Isra’el, let it be known today that you are God in Isra’el, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. ³⁷ Hear me, Adonai, hear me, so that this people may know that you, Adonai, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back to you.”

³⁸ Then the fire of Adonai fell. It consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones and the dust; and it licked up the water in the trench. ³⁹ When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “Adonai is God! Adonai is God!” ⁴⁰ Eliyahu said to them, “Seize the prophets of Ba‘al! Don’t let one of them escape!” They seized them; and Eliyahu brought them down to Vadi Kishon and killed them there.

⁴¹ Then Eliyahu said to Ach’av, “Get up, eat, and drink, because I hear the sound of heavy rain.” ⁴² Ach’av went up to eat and drink, while Eliyahu went up to the top of the Karmel. He bowed down to the ground and put his face between his knees. ⁴³ “Now,” he said to his servant, “go up, and look out toward the sea.” He went up, looked, and said, “There’s nothing there.” Seven times he said, “Go again.” ⁴⁴ The seventh time, the servant said, “Now there’s a cloud coming up out of the sea, no bigger than a man’s hand.” Eliyahu said, “Go up, and say to Ach’av, ‘Prepare your chariot, and get down the mountain before the rain stops you!” ⁴⁵ A little later, the sky grew black with clouds and wind; and heavy rain began falling; as Ach’av, riding in his chariot, made for Yizre‘el. ⁴⁶ The hand of Adonai was on Eliyahu; he tucked up his clothing and ran ahead of Ach’av to the entrance of Yizre‘el.

19 Ach’av told Izevel everything Eliyahu had done and how he had put all the prophets to the sword. ² Then Izevel sent a messenger to say to Eliyahu, “May the gods do terrible things to me and worse ones besides if by this time tomorrow I haven’t taken your life, just as you took theirs!” ³ On seeing that, he got up and fled for his life.

When he arrived in Be’er-Sheva, in Y’hudah, he left his servant there; ⁴ but he himself went a day farther into the desert, until he came to a broom tree. He sat down under it and prayed for his own death. “Enough!” he said. “Now, Adonai, take my life. I’m no better than my ancestors.” ⁵ Then he lay down under the broom tree and went to sleep. Suddenly, an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat!” ⁶ He looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on the hot stones and a jug of water. He ate and drank, then lay down again. ⁷ The angel came again, a second time, touched him and said, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” ⁸ He got up, ate and drank, and, on the strength of that meal, traveled forty days and nights until he reached Horev the mountain of God.

⁹ There he went into a cave and spent the night. Then the word of Adonai came to him; he said to him, “What are you doing here, Eliyahu?” ¹⁰ He answered, “I have been very zealous for Adonai the God of armies, because the people of Isra’el have abandoned your covenant, broken down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. Now I’m the only one left, and they’re coming after me to kill me too.” ¹¹ He said, “Go outside, and stand on the mountain before Adonai”; and right then and there, Adonai went past. A mighty blast of wind tore the mountains apart and broke the rocks in pieces before Adonai, but Adonai was not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake, but Adonai was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake, fire broke out; but Adonai was not in the fire. And after the fire came a quiet, subdued voice. ¹³ When Eliyahu heard it, he covered his face with his cloak, stepped out and stood at the entrance to the cave. Then a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Eliyahu?” ¹⁴ He answered, “I have been very zealous for Adonai the God of armies; because the people of Isra’el have abandoned your covenant, broken down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. Now I’m the only one left, and they’re after me to kill me too.”

¹⁵ Adonai said to him, “Go back by way of the Dammesek Desert. When you get there, anoint Haza’el to be king over Aram. ¹⁶ Also anoint Yehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Isra’el, and anoint Elisha the son of Shafat of Avel-M’cholah to be prophet after you. ¹⁷ Yehu will kill whoever escapes the sword of Haza’el, and Elisha will kill whoever escapes the sword of Yehu. ¹⁸ Still, I will spare seven thousand in Isra’el, every knee that hasn’t bent down before Ba‘al and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

¹⁹ So he left and found Elisha the son of Shafat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen; he himself was behind the twelfth. Eliyahu went over to him and threw his cloak on him. ²⁰ He left the oxen, ran after Eliyahu and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother good-bye; then I will follow you.” He answered, “Go; but return, because of what I did to you.” ²¹ Elisha stopped following him. Then he took the yoke of oxen, slaughtered them, cooked their meat over the wooden yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people to eat. Then he got up, went after Eliyahu and became his servant.

20 Now Ben-Hadad the king of Aram rallied his whole army; with him were thirty-two kings, besides horses and chariots. Then he marched on Shomron and laid siege to it. ² He sent messengers inside the city to Ach’av king of Isra’el ³ to say to him, “Here is the message from Ben-Hadad: ‘Your silver and gold are mine, also your wives and your best children are mine.’” ⁴ The king of Isra’el answered, “Just as you say, my lord, king; I am yours, along with everything I own.”

⁵ The messengers returned and said, “Here is Ben-Hadad’s response: ‘I sent you a message to hand over your silver, gold, wives and children to me. ⁶ But I am going to send my servants to you tomorrow around this time; they will ransack your house and the houses of your servants; and whatever they see that they like they will seize and remove.’” ⁷ Then the king of Isra’el summoned all the leaders of the land and said, “Please take notice! Do you see how this man is trying to make trouble? First he demanded my wives, children, silver and gold; and I denied him nothing.” ⁸ All the leaders and all the people said to him, “Don’t listen, and don’t agree.” ⁹ So he said to Ben-Hadad’s messengers, “Tell my lord the king, ‘I will do all that you asked of me the first time, but this I cannot do.” The messengers left and brought word back to him.

¹⁰ Ben-Hadad then sent this message to him: “May the gods do terrible things to me and worse ones as well if there’s enough dust in Shomron to give each of my followers a handful!” ¹¹ The king of Isra’el answered, “Tell him: ‘He who is putting on his armor shouldn’t boast as if he were taking it off!’” ¹² It happened that Ben-Hadad received this message when he was drinking, he and his kings, in the field-barracks. He ordered his servants: “Take up your battle positions!” So they got ready to attack the city.

¹³ At that moment a prophet approached Ach’av king of Isra’el and said, “Here is what Adonai says: ‘Have you seen this vast army? I am going to give you victory over them today. Then you will know that I am Adonai!’” ¹⁴ Ach’av asked, “Who will defeat them?” He answered, “This is what Adonai says: ‘The young men who serve the district governors.’” He asked, “Who will start the fighting?” and he answered, “You will.” ¹⁵ He counted the district governors’ young men; there were 232. After that, he counted all the people, all the people of Isra’el; there were 7,000.

¹⁶ They set out at noon. Ben-Hadad was drinking himself senseless in the field-barracks, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings who were his allies. ¹⁷ The district governors’ men went out first. Ben-Hadad sent for information, and they reported, “Men have come out from Shomron.” ¹⁸ He said, “Whether they have come out for peace or for war, take them alive.” ¹⁹ So the district governors’ men left the city, followed by the army; ²⁰ and each one killed his man. Aram fled, and Isra’el pursued them. Ben-Hadad king of Aram escaped on horseback with some of the cavalry. ²¹ The king of Isra’el went out and attacked the horses and chariots, inflicting a massive defeat on Aram.

²² Afterwards, the prophet approached the king of Isra’el and said to him, “Go, regroup your forces, and think carefully what to do, for next year at this time the king of Aram will renew his attack.” ²³ Meanwhile, the servants of the king of Aram said to him, “Their God is a God of the hills; that’s why they were stronger than we were. But if we fight them on level ground, we will certainly be stronger than they are. ²⁴ Also do this: remove all the kings from their commands, and put professional officers in their place. ²⁵ Then recruit an army as big as the army you lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. We will attack them on level ground, and we will certainly be stronger than they.” He heeded what they said and acted accordingly.

²⁶ At the same time the following year, Ben-Hadad mustered the army of Aram and went up to Afek to attack Isra’el. ²⁷ The army of Isra’el, already mobilized and supplied, went to meet them; but the army of Isra’el, encamped opposite them, looked like two herds of goats; while Aram filled the land.

²⁸ At this point, a man of God approached and said to the king of Isra’el, “Here is what Adonai says: ‘Because Aram said that Adonai is a God of the hills but not a God of the valleys, I will hand over to you this entire huge army. Then you will know that I am Adonai.’”

²⁹ They remained in camp opposite each other for seven days. On the seventh day, the battle began; and the people of Isra’el killed 100,000 soldiers of Aram in a single day. ³⁰ The rest fled to Afek, into the city; and the wall fell on 27,000 of the men who were left. Ben-Hadad fled into the city and took refuge in an inside room. ³¹ His servants said to him, “Here now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Isra’el are merciful kings. If it’s all right with you, let’s put sackcloth around our waists and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Isra’el. Maybe he will spare your life.” ³² So they put sackcloth around their waists and ropes on their heads, went to the king of Isra’el and said, “Your servant Ben-Hadad says, ‘Please spare my life.’” And he answered, “He’s still alive? He is my brother.” ³³ The men took this as a promising indication and seized on it to say, “Yes, Ben-Hadad is your brother.” Then Ach’av said, “Go, and bring him here.” Ben-Hadad went out to him, and Ach’av had him climb up into his chariot. ³⁴ Ben-Hadad said to him, “I will return the cities my father took from your father. Also you can set up markets for trade in Dammesek, as my father did in Shomron.” “If you put this covenant in writing,” said Ach’av, “I will set you free.” So he made a covenant with him and set him free.

³⁵ One of the members of the prophets’ guild said to another one, by the word of Adonai, “Hit me!” But the man refused to hit him. ³⁶ Then he said to him, “Because you didn’t listen to the voice of Adonai, the moment you leave me, a lion will kill you.” No sooner had he left him than a lion found him and killed him. ³⁷ The prophet went to another man and said, “Hit me!” The man struck him a blow and wounded him. ³⁸ The prophet left and waited for the king by the road, disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes. ³⁹ As the king passed by, he called out to the king and said, “Your servant was on his way into the thick of the fighting when someone turned, brought a man to me and said, ‘Guard this man! If he is missing, you will pay for his life with yours; or else you will pay sixty-six pounds of silver.’ ⁴⁰ But while your servant was busy with one thing and another, he disappeared.” The king of Isra’el said to him, “So that is your sentence; you have pronounced it on yourself.” ⁴¹ Quickly he removed the bandage from his eyes, and the king of Isra’el recognized him as one of the prophets. ⁴² Then he said to the king, “Here is what Adonai says: ‘Because you have let escape the man I had given over to be destroyed, you will pay with your life for his life and with your people for his people.’” ⁴³ The king of Isra’el returned home to Shomron resentful and depressed.