Chronological
Elijah Proclaims Famine
17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab: “As Adonai God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be no dew or rain these years, except at my word.”[a]
2 Then the word of Adonai came to him saying: 3 “Leave this place, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan. 4 It will come about that you will drink from the wadi. I have also commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
5 So he went and did according to the word of Adonai—he went and lived by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 6 The ravens kept bringing him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the wadi. 7 Then it came to pass after a while that the wadi dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
8 Then the word of Adonai came to him saying: 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have just commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
Miracle of Flour and Oil
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. Now when he came to the town gate, to his surprise, a widow was there gathering sticks. So he called her and said, “Please bring a little water in a jar that I may drink.” 11 As she was going to fetch it, he called her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12 So she said, “As Adonai your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in the jar, and a little oil in the jug. Now look, I am gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go in and prepare it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.”
13 Elijah said to her, “Fear not! Go and do as you said, but first make me a little cake from what you have there. Bring it out to me and afterwards, make some for you and for your son. 14 For thus says Adonai God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be exhausted nor shall the jug of oil be empty until the day Adonai sends rain on the land.’”
15 So she went and did according to the word of Elijah—and she and he, and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of flour was not exhausted, nor did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of Adonai which He spoke through Elijah.
Resurrection of a Boy
17 After these things, it came to pass that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house fell sick, and his sickness was getting much worse until he had no breath left in him. 18 So she said to Elijah, “What do I have to do with you, man of God? Have you come to me to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”
19 He said to her, “Give me your son.” Then he took him from her arms, carried him up to the upper room where he was staying and laid him on his own bed. 20 He cried out to Adonai and said, “Adonai my God, have You brought such evil even on the widow with whom I am staying, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times. He cried out to Adonai and said, “Adonai my God, please let this child’s soul come back into his body!”
22 Adonai listened to the cry of Elijah, so the soul of the child came back into his body and he was revived. 23 Then Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. Elijah said, “See! Your son is alive.”[b]
24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word in your mouth is truth.”
Elijah Confronts Ahab
18 Now it was after many days that the word of Adonai came to Elijah in the third year saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab; then I will send rain on the land. 2 So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab.
Now the famine was severe in Samaria. 3 Ahab summoned Obadiah who was the steward of the palace. Now Obadiah feared Adonai greatly— 4 for when Jezebel was cutting off the prophets of Adonai, Obadiah took 100 prophets, hid them 50 to a cave, and provided them with bread and water. 5 Then Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the wadis. Perhaps we may find grass and so keep the horses and mules alive and not lose all the animals.” 6 So they divided the land between them to explore it—Ahab went one way by himself while Obadiah went another way by himself.
7 As Obadiah was on the road, all of a sudden, Elijah met him. When he recognized him, he fell on his face and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?”
8 “It is I,” he answered him. Go tell your lord, ‘Look, Elijah is here!”
9 “How have I sinned,” he replied, “that you are giving your servant into the hand of Ahab, to put me to death? 10 As Adonai your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent to search for you; and when they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made that kingdom or nation swear that they could not find you.
11 “Now you’re saying, ‘Go tell your lord, “Look, Elijah is here!”’ 12 But as soon as I leave you, the Ruach Adonai may carry you off where I wouldn’t know. Then, when I come and tell Ahab and he can’t find you, he’ll kill me! Now I, your servant, have feared Adonai since my youth. 13 Wasn’t my lord told what I did when Jezebel slaughtered the prophets of Adonai—how I hid 100 of Adonai’s prophets, 50 to a cave and provided them with bread and water? 14 So now you say, ‘Go tell your lord, “Look, Elijah is here!’” He’ll kill me!”
15 Then Elijah said, “As Adonai-Tzva’ot lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.”
16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him; then, Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 Now when Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, the one who causes trouble for Israel?”
18 But he answered, “I have not troubled Israel. Rather, it is you and your father’s house—by forsaking the mitzvot of Adonai and going after the Baalim. 19 Now then, send and gather to me all Israel at Mount Carmel, together with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
Triumph on Mount Carmel
20 So Ahab sent word to all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. 21 Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If Adonai is God, follow Him; but if Baal is, follow him.” But the people did not answer him, not even a word.
22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I am the only prophet of Adonai left, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. 23 Now let them give us two young bulls. Let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it into pieces, lay it on the wood, and put no fire underneath, while I prepare the other bull, lay it on the wood, and put no fire underneath. 24 Then you will call on the name of your god, and then, I will call on the Name of Adonai. The God who answers with fire, He is God.”
All the people responded and said, “It’s a good thing.”
25 Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first—since you are so many. Then call on the name of your god, but put no fire underneath.”
26 So they took the bull that he gave them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning till noon, crying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice—no one was answering. They also danced leaping around the altar that was made.
27 Now when it was about noon, Elijah mocked them and said, “Shout louder! After all, he is a god! Maybe he’s deep in thought, or he’s relieving himself, or he’s off on a journey, or perhaps he’s asleep and must wake up!” 28 So they shouted even louder and cut themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until the blood gushed over them. 29 When midday was past, they kept prophesying ecstatically until the time of offering up the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice, no one answering, no one paying attention.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came closer to him. Then he repaired the damaged altar of Adonai. 31 Elijah took twelve stones—like the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of Adonai had come saying, “Israel shall be your name”— 32 and with the stones he built an altar in the Name of Adonai. Then he made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two measures of seed. 33 Then he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood.
34 Then he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” Then he said, “A second time!” and they did it a second time. Then he said, “A third time!” and they did it a third time. 35 So the water ran around the altar and he also filled the trench with water.
36 Now it was at the time of offering up the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Adonai, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel,[c] let it be known today that You are God in Israel, that I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. 37 Answer me, Adonai, answer me, so that these people may know that You, Adonai, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again.”
38 Then the fire of Adonai fell and consumed the burnt offering—and the wood, the stones and the dust—and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said, “Adonai, He is God! Adonai, He is God!”
40 Then Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Let not a single one of them escape.” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and slew them there.
41 Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there’s the sound of rain.” 42 So Ahab went up to eat and drink. But Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, crouched on the ground and put his face between his knees. [d] 43 Then he said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.”
So he went up, looked, and said, “There’s nothing.”
Then he said, “Go back”—seven times— 44 and it was the seventh time that he said, “Look! A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”
Then he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Harness your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”
45 In a little while the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. Ahab mounted and rode, and headed to Jezreel. 46 Now the hand of Adonai was on Elijah, so he girded up his loins and outran Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
Whisper at the Cave
19 Then Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, “So let the gods do to me and worse if by this time tomorrow I don’t make your life like the life of one of them.” 3 Frightened, he got up and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, 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 bush. He prayed that he might die. “It’s too much!” he said. “Now, Adonai, take my life! For I’m no better than my fathers.”
5 Then he lay down and slept under the broom bush. Then behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, “Get up, and eat.” 6 So he looked, and to his surprise, there by his head was a cake baked on the hot stones and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 Then the angel of Adonai came again a second time, touched him and said. “Get up and eat, because the journey is too much for you.” 8 So he arose and ate and drank, and in the strength of that meal forty days and forty nights went to Horeb, the mountain of God.
9 When he arrived there at the cave, he spent the night there. Then behold, the word of Adonai came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10 “I have been very zealous for Adonai-Tzva’ot,” he said, “for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and slain Your prophets with the sword—and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it!”[e]
11 Then He said, “Come out and stand on the mount before Adonai.”[f] Behold, Adonai was passing by—a great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and shattering cliffs before Adonai. But Adonai was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but Adonai was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake a fire, but Adonai was not in the fire. After the fire there was a soft whisper of a voice. 13 As soon as Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
Then all of a sudden, a voice addressed him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
14 “I have been very zealous for Adonai-Tzva’ot,” he said, “for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and slain Your prophets with the sword—and I alone am left, and they are seeking to take my life!”
15 Then Adonai said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram, 16 and anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. 17 It shall come to pass that whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will slay; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha will slay. 18 Yet I have preserved seven thousand in Israel whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouth has not kissed him.”
Calling of Elisha
19 So he departed from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat while he was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. Then Elijah crossed over to him and threw his mantle on him. 20 So he left the oxen and ran after Elijah saying, “Let me please kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.”[g]
“Come back,” he said to him. “For what have I done to you?” 21 So he returned from following him, and took the pair of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the oxen’s yoke gear, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose, went after Elijah and became his attendant.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.