The Daily Audio Bible

Elijah Confronts Ahab

18 After many days, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying, “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.” ² Elijah went to show himself to Ahab.

And there was a great famine in Samaria. ³ Ahab called Obadiah, who was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly. ⁴ When Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them in groups of fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water.) ⁵ And Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go into the land, to all the springs of water and to all the brooks. Perhaps we will find grass to save the horses and mules, so that we do not lose all the beasts.” ⁶ So they divided the land between them to search throughout it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

⁷ As Obadiah was going along, he met Elijah, and he recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is that you, my lord Elijah?”

⁸ And he answered him, “I am. Go, tell your lord, ‘Elijah is here.’ ”

⁹ He said, “What evil have I done that you would hand your servant into the hand of Ahab to put me to death? ¹⁰ As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not looked for you, and when they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made the kingdom and nation swear that they could not find you, ¹¹ and now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Elijah is here!” ’ ¹² As soon as I am gone from you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you to a place I do not know, and so when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will execute me. But I, your servant, have feared the Lord since my youth. ¹³ Were you not told what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred men of the Lord’s prophets in groups of fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water? ¹⁴ And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Elijah is here,” ’ and he will execute me.”

¹⁵ Elijah said, “As the Lord of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.”

Elijah and the Prophets of Baal

¹⁶ So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah. ¹⁷ When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Are you he that troubles Israel?”

¹⁸ And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and you have followed the Baals. ¹⁹ Now send word out and gather for me all Israel on Mount Carmel, along with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

²⁰ So Ahab called out all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. ²¹ Elijah came to all the people and said, “How long will you stay between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him, but if Baal, then follow him.”

And the people did not say a word.

²² Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone remain a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets number four hundred and fifty men. ²³ Therefore, let them give us two bulls, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on some wood, but do not light a fire under it, and I will prepare the other bull, lay it on some wood, and not light a fire underneath it. ²⁴ And you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord, and the God that answers by fire, let Him be God.”

And all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken.”

²⁵ Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for there are many of you, and call on the name of your god, but do not light a fire underneath.”

²⁶ They took the bull which was given to them, and they prepared it and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us.” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.

²⁷ By noon, Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry out loud, for he is a god. Either he is talking or is gone away or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened.” ²⁸ They cried out loud and cut themselves with knives and spears according to their custom until the blood gushed out on them. ²⁹ And as midday passed, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.

³⁰ Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. ³¹ Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came saying, “Israel shall be your name,” ³² and he built an altar in the name of the Lord with stones, and he made a trench around the altar, so deep that it could contain two seahs^[a] of seed. ³³ He arranged the wood and cut the bull in pieces and laid him on the wood and said, “Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.”

³⁴ He said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time.

And he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it the third time. ³⁵ The water ran all around the altar and also filled the trench with water.

³⁶ At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “The Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and of 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 at Your word. ³⁷ Hear me, O Lord, hear me, so that this people may know that You are the Lord God and that You have turned their hearts back again.”

³⁸ Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and 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 said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”

⁴⁰ Elijah said to them, “Arrest the prophets of Baal, and do not let one of them escape.” And they arrested them, and Elijah brought them down to the Kishon brook and executed them there.

End of the Drought

⁴¹ Elijah said to Ahab, “Get up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of a heavy rainfall.” ⁴² So Ahab got up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and he threw himself down on the ground and put his face between his knees.

⁴³ And he said to his servant, “Go up now, and look toward the sea.”

And he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.”

And he said, “Go again,” seven times.

⁴⁴ On the seventh time, he said, “A small cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising out of the sea.”

And he said, “Go up and say to Ahab, ‘Mount your chariot and get down, so that the rain does not stop you.’ ”

⁴⁵ In the meantime, the sky turned black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. ⁴⁶ The hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

Peter’s Report to the Church in Jerusalem

11 The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ² So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised disputed with him, ³ saying, “You went in and ate with uncircumcised men!”

⁴ Peter began explaining it to them in order, saying, ⁵ “I was in the city of Joppa praying. And in a trance I saw a vision: A vessel like a great sheet was descending, let down from heaven by four corners, and it came to me. ⁶ I considered what I had observed and saw four-footed creatures and wild beasts and reptiles and birds of the air. ⁷ Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’

⁸ “I said, ‘Not at all, Lord. For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth.’

⁹ “The voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has cleansed, do not call common.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times. And again everything was taken up into heaven.

¹¹ “And immediately three men sent from Caesarea to me came to the house where I was. ¹² The Spirit told me to go with them without hesitation. Moreover these six brothers came with me, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³ He told us how he had seen an angel in his house, who stood and said to him, ‘Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose surname is Peter. ¹⁴ He will speak words to you by which you and all your household will be saved.’

¹⁵ “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, as He fell on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’^{[a] 17} If then God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?”

¹⁸ When they heard these things, they were silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then God has granted to the Gentiles also repentance unto life.”

The Church in Antioch

¹⁹ Now those who were scattered by the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word to no one except Jews. ²⁰ Some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. ²¹ The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.

²² News of these things came to the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ²³ When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and exhorted them all to remain with the Lord with a loyal heart. ²⁴ For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And many people were added to the Lord.

²⁵ Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. ²⁶ When he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a considerable crowd. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

²⁷ In these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸ One of them, named Agabus, stood up and prophesied by the Spirit that there would be a great famine throughout all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. ²⁹ Then every disciple, according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brothers who lived in Judea. ³⁰ Indeed they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

Psalm 135^(A)