1 Kings 18

Translated from the Hebrew of the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Tap a verse to see why it reads as it does. Tap a small letter to read its footnote.

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Elijah and Obadiah

¹After many days, in the third year, the LORD spoke to Elijah: “Go and appear before Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.” ²So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria. ³Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace. (Obadiah was a man who deeply revered the LORD. ⁴When Jezebel was killing off the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred of them and hidden them in caves, fifty in each, and had kept them supplied with food and water.) ⁵Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to every spring and every stream bed. Perhaps we can find grass and keep the horses and mules alive, and not have to destroy any of our animals.” ⁶So they divided the land between them to cover it, Ahab going one way on his own and Obadiah another way on his own. ⁷As Obadiah was on his way, there was Elijah coming to meet him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down with his face to the ground, and said, “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?” ⁸He answered him, “It is. Go and tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’” ⁹Obadiah said, “What sin have I committed, that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? ¹⁰As surely as the LORD your God lives, my master has sent people to look for you in every nation and kingdom. Whenever a nation said, ‘He is not here,’ he made its people swear that they could not find you. ¹¹And now you are telling me, ‘Go and tell your master, “Elijah is here.”’ ¹²As soon as I leave you, the Spirit of the LORD will carry you off to some place I do not know. Then when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find you, he will kill me. Yet I, your servant, have revered the LORD since I was young. ¹³Has my lord not been told what I did when Jezebel was killing the prophets of the LORD? I hid a hundred of the LORD’s prophets, fifty in each of two caves, and kept them supplied with food and water. ¹⁴And now you are telling me, ‘Go and tell your master, “Elijah is here.”’ He will kill me!”

Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel

¹⁵Elijah said, “As surely as the LORD of Armies lives, whom I serve, I will present myself to Ahab today.” ¹⁶So Obadiah went off to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab set out to meet Elijah. ¹⁷When Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” ¹⁸Elijah answered, “I have not brought trouble on Israel. You have, you and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the LORD’s commandments and followed the Baals. ¹⁹Now send word and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, together with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.” ²⁰So Ahab sent word to all the Israelites and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. ²¹Elijah stepped up before all the people and said, “How long will you go on hobbling between two choices? If the LORD is God, follow him. If it is Baal, follow Baal.” But the people said nothing in reply. ²²Then Elijah said to the people, “I am the only one left of the LORD’s prophets, but Baal has 450 prophets. ²³Have two bulls brought to us. Let the prophets of Baal pick one of the bulls for themselves, cut it up, and set it on the wood, without lighting a fire. I will get the other bull ready and set it on the wood, and I too will light no fire. ²⁴Then you call on your god by name, and I will call on the name of the LORD. Whichever god answers with fire, he is God.” All the people answered, “That is well said.” ²⁵Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls for yourselves and prepare it first, since there are many of you. Call on your god by name, but light no fire.” ²⁶So they took the bull that was given to them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, crying, “Baal, answer us!” But no sound came, and no one answered. And they kept hobbling in a dance around the altar they had made. ²⁷At noon Elijah began to mock them. “Call out at the top of your voices!” he said. “He is a god, is he not? Maybe he is lost in thought, or he has stepped aside, or he has gone off on a trip. Or maybe he has fallen asleep, and must be woken up!” ²⁸So they shouted louder and, as was their practice, slashed themselves with swords and spears until the blood flowed over them. ²⁹Midday passed, and they went on raving in prophetic frenzy until the time for the evening offering. But there was no sound, no answer, no one taking notice. ³⁰Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” When they had all come near, he repaired the LORD’s altar, which had been torn down. ³¹Elijah took twelve stones, one for each tribe descended from the sons of Jacob, the man to whom the word of the LORD had come: “Your name will be Israel.” ³²He used the stones to build an altar in the name of the LORD, and around the altar he dug a trench large enough to hold about 13 quarts of seed. ³³He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces, and laid it on the wood. ³⁴Then he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it over the burnt offering and the wood.” “Again,” he said, and they did it again. “Once more,” he said, and they did it a third time. ³⁵The water ran down all around the altar, and he also filled the trench with water. ³⁶At the time of the evening offering, Elijah the prophet stepped forward and said, “The LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today make it known that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that it is at your word that I have done all this. ³⁷Answer me, the LORD, answer me, so that these people may know that you, the LORD, are God and are turning their hearts back again.” ³⁸Then fire from the LORD fell. It burned up the burnt offering, the wood, the stones and the soil, and licked up the water in the trench. ³⁹When all the people saw it, they fell face down and said, “The LORD, he is God! The LORD, he is God!” ⁴⁰Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Do not let one of them get away!” They seized them, and Elijah took them down to the Kishon River and put them to death there. ⁴¹Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink. There is the sound of a roaring downpour.” ⁴²So Ahab went up to eat and drink, while Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel. He bowed down to the ground and put his face between his knees. ⁴³He said to his servant, “Go up and look toward the sea.” The servant went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing there.” Seven times Elijah told him, “Go back.” ⁴⁴The seventh time the servant said, “Look, a cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising out of the sea.” Elijah said, “Go up and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’” ⁴⁵Meanwhile, in a very short time, the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and a heavy rain came. Ahab rode off and went to Jezreel. ⁴⁶The hand of the LORD came on Elijah. He tucked his robe into his belt and ran in front of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.