1 Kings 18
1 And the days are many, and the word of YHWH has been to Elijah in the third year, saying, “Go, appear to Ahab, and I give rain on the face of the ground”;
After a long time, in the third year of the drought, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the face of the earth.”
2 and Elijah goes to appear to Ahab. And the famine is severe in Samaria,
So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria,
3 and Ahab calls to Obadiah, who [is] over the house—and Obadiah has been fearing YHWH greatly,
and Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace. (Now Obadiah greatly feared the LORD,
4 and it comes to pass, in Jezebel’s cutting off the prophets of YHWH, that Obadiah takes one hundred prophets, and hides them, fifty men in a cave, and has sustained them with bread and water—
for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)
5 and Ahab says to Obadiah, “Go through the land, to all fountains of waters, and to all the brooks, perhaps we find hay, and keep alive horse and mule, and do not cut off any of the livestock.”
Then Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go throughout the land to every spring and every valley. Perhaps we will find grass to keep the horses and mules alive so that we will not have to destroy any livestock.”
6 And they apportion the land to themselves, to pass over into it; Ahab has gone in one way by himself, and Obadiah has gone in another way by himself;
So they divided the land to explore. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went the other way by himself.
7 and Obadiah [is] in the way, and behold, Elijah [is there] to meet him; and he discerns him, and falls on his face and says, “Are you he—my lord Elijah?”
Now as Obadiah went on his way, Elijah suddenly met him. When Obadiah recognized him, he fell facedown and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?”
8 And he says to him, “I [am]; go, say to your lord, Behold, Elijah.”
“It is I,” he answered. “Go tell your master, ‘Elijah is here!’”
9 And he says, “What have I sinned, that you are giving your servant into the hand of Ahab—to put me to death?
But Obadiah replied, “How have I sinned, that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to put me to death?
10 Your God YHWH lives, if there is a nation and kingdom to where my lord has not sent to seek [for] you; and they said, He is not, then he caused the kingdom and the nation to swear, that it does not find you;
As surely as the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent someone to search for you. When they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made that kingdom or nation swear that they had not found you.
11 and now, you are saying, Go, say to your lord, Behold, Elijah;
And now you say, ‘Go tell your master that Elijah is here!’
12 and it has been, I go from you, and the Spirit of YHWH lifts you up to where I do not know, and I have come to declare to Ahab, and he does not find you, and he has slain me; and your servant is fearing YHWH from my youth.
I do not know where the Spirit of the LORD may carry you off when I leave you. Then when I go and tell Ahab and he does not find you, he will kill me. But I, your servant, have feared the LORD from my youth.
13 Has it not been declared to my lord that which I have done in Jezebel’s slaying the prophets of YHWH, that I hide one hundred men of the prophets of YHWH, fifty by fifty in a cave, and sustained them with bread and water?
Was it not reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel slaughtered the prophets of the LORD? I hid a hundred prophets of the LORD, fifty men per cave, and I provided them with food and water.
14 And now you are saying, Go, say to my lord, Behold, Elijah—and he has slain me!”
And now you say, ‘Go tell your lord that Elijah is here!’ He will kill me!”
15 And Elijah says, “YHWH of Hosts lives, before whom I have stood, surely I appear to him today.”
Then Elijah said, “As surely as the LORD of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will present myself to Ahab today.”
16 Obadiah goes to meet Ahab, and declares [it] to him, and Ahab goes to meet Elijah.
So Obadiah went to inform Ahab, who went to meet Elijah.
17 [And it] comes to pass at Ahab’s seeing Elijah that Ahab says to him, “Are you he—the troubler of Israel?”
When Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?”
18 And he says, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and the house of your father, in your forsaking the commands of YHWH, and you go after the Ba‘alim;
“I have not troubled Israel,” Elijah replied, “but you and your father’s house have, for you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals.
19 and now, send, gather all Israel to me, to the Mount of Carmel, and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Ba‘al, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who are eating at the table of Jezebel.”
Now summon all Israel to meet me 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 And Ahab sends among all the sons of Israel, and gathers the prophets to the Mount of Carmel;
So Ahab summoned all the Israelites and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel.
21 and Elijah comes near to all the people and says, “Until when are you leaping on the two branches? If YHWH [is] God, go after Him; and if Ba‘al, go after him”; and the people have not answered him a word.
Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people did not answer a word.
22 And Elijah says to the people, “I have been left, by myself, a prophet of YHWH; and the prophets of Ba‘al [are] four hundred and fifty men;
Then Elijah said to the people, “I am the only remaining prophet of the LORD, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets.
23 and let them give two bullocks to us, and they choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and place [it] on the wood, and place no fire; and I prepare the other bullock, and have put [it] on the wood, and I do not place fire—
Get two bulls for us. Let the prophets of Baal choose one bull for themselves, cut it into pieces, and place it on the wood but not light the fire. And I will prepare the other bull and place it on the wood but not light the fire.
24 and you have called in the name of your god, and I call in the Name of YHWH, and it has been, the god who answers by fire—He [is] the God.” And all the people answer and say, “The word [is] good.”
Then you may call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The God who answers by fire, He is God.” And all the people answered, “What you say is good.”
25 And Elijah says to the prophets of Ba‘al, “Choose one bullock for yourselves, and prepare [it] first, for you [are] the multitude, and call in the name of your god, and place no fire.”
Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Since you are so numerous, choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first. Then call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.”
26 And they take the bullock that [one] gave to them, and prepare [it], and call in the name of Ba‘al from the morning even until the noon, saying, “O Ba‘al, answer us!” And there is no voice, and there is none answering; and they leap on the altar that one had made.
And they took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, shouting, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no sound, and no one answered as they leaped around the altar they had made.
27 And it comes to pass, at noon, that Elijah mocks at them and says, “Call with a loud voice, for he [is] a god, for he is meditating, or pursuing, or on a journey; it may be he is asleep, and awakes.”
At noon Elijah began to taunt them, saying, “Shout louder, for he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or occupied, or on a journey. Perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened!”
28 And they call with a loud voice, and cut themselves, according to their ordinance, with swords and with spears, until a flowing of blood [is] on them;
So they shouted louder and cut themselves with knives and lances, as was their custom, until the blood gushed over them.
29 and it comes to pass, at the passing by of the noon, that they feign themselves prophets until the going up of the present, and there is no voice, and there is none answering, and there is none attending.
Midday passed, and they kept on raving until the time of the evening sacrifice. But there was no response; no one answered, no one paid attention.
30 And Elijah says to all the people, “Come near to me”; and all the people come near to him, and he repairs the altar of YHWH that is broken down;
Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people approached him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD that had been torn down.
31 and Elijah takes twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of YHWH was, saying, “Israel is your name”;
And Elijah took twelve stones, one for each tribe of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come and said, “Israel shall be your name.”
32 and he builds an altar with the stones, in the Name of YHWH, and makes a trench, as about the space of two measures of seed, around the altar.
And with the stones, Elijah built an altar in the name of the LORD. Then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed.
33 And he arranges the wood, and cuts the bullock in pieces, and places [it] on the wood, and says, “Fill four pitchers of water, and pour [them] on the burnt-offering, and on the wood”;
Next, he arranged the wood, cut up the bull, placed it on the wood,
34 and he says, “Do [it] a second time”; and they do [it] a second time; and he says, “Do [it] a third time”; and they do [it] a third time;
and said, “Fill four waterpots and pour the water on the offering and on the wood.” “Do it a second time,” he said, and they did it a second time. “Do it a third time,” he said, and they did it a third time.
35 and the water goes around the altar, and he has also filled the trench with water.
So the water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
36 And it comes to pass, at the going up of the [evening] present, that Elijah the prophet comes near and says, “YHWH, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that You [are] God in Israel, and that I, Your servant, have done the whole of these things by Your word;
At the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached the altar and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and have done all these things at Your command.
37 answer me, O YHWH, answer me, and this people [then] knows that You [are] YHWH God; and You have turned their heart backward.”
Answer me, O LORD! Answer me, so that this people will know that You, the LORD, are God, and that You have turned their hearts back again.”
38 And a fire falls [from] YHWH, and consumes the burnt-offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and it has licked up the water that [is] in the trench.
Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water in the trench.
39 And all the people see, and fall on their faces, and say, “YHWH, He [is] the God! YHWH, He [is] the God!”
When all the people saw this, they fell facedown and said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!”
40 And Elijah says to them, “Catch the prophets of Ba‘al; do not let a man escape from them”; and they catch them, and Elijah brings them down to the Brook of Kishon, and slaughters them there.
Then Elijah ordered them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let a single one escape.” So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered them there.
41 And Elijah says to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, because of the sound of the noise of the shower.”
And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.”
42 And Ahab goes up to eat, and to drink, and Elijah has gone up to the top of Carmel, and he stretches himself out on the earth, and he places his face between his knees,
So Ahab went up to eat and drink. But Elijah climbed to the summit of Carmel, bent down on the ground, and put his face between his knees.
43 and says to his young man, “Now go up, look attentively [toward] the way of the sea”; and he goes up and looks attentively, and says, “There is nothing”; and he says, “Turn back,” seven times.
“Go and look toward the sea,” he said to his servant. So the servant went and looked, and he said, “There is nothing there.” Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.”
44 And it comes to pass, at the seventh, that he says, “Behold, a little thickness as the palm of a man is coming up out of the sea.” And he says, “Go up, say to Ahab, Bind and go down, and the shower does not restrain you.”
On the seventh time the servant reported, “There is a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising from the sea.” And Elijah replied, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”
45 And it comes to pass, in the meantime, that the heavens have become black—thick clouds and wind—and the shower is great; and Ahab rides, and goes to Jezreel,
Meanwhile, the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and a heavy rain began to fall. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel.
46 and the hand of YHWH has been on Elijah, and he girds up his loins, and runs before Ahab, until your entering Jezreel.
And the hand of the LORD came upon Elijah, and he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.
