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”;
Now after a long time, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, Go and let Ahab see you, so that I may send rain on the earth.
2 and Elijah goes to appear to Ahab. And the famine is severe in Samaria,
So Elijah went to let Ahab see him. Now there was no food to be had in Samaria.
3 and Ahab calls to Obadiah, who [is] over the house—and Obadiah has been fearing YHWH greatly,
And Ahab sent for Obadiah, the controller of the king's house. (Now Obadiah had the fear of the Lord before him greatly;
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 was cutting off the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred of them, and kept them secretly in a hole in the rock, fifty at a time, and gave them bread 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.”
And Ahab said to Obadiah, Come, let us go through all the country, to all the fountains of water and all the rivers, and see if there is any grass to be had for the horses and the transport beasts, so that we may be able to keep some of the beasts from destruction.
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 went through all the country, covering it between them; Ahab went in one direction by himself, and Obadiah went in another 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?”
And while Obadiah was on his way, he came face to face with Elijah; and seeing who it was, he went down on his face and said, Is it you, my lord Elijah?
8 And he says to him, “I [am]; go, say to your lord, Behold, Elijah.”
And Elijah in answer said, It is I; now go and say to your lord, 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?
And he said, What sin have I done, that you would give up your servant into the hand of Ahab, and be the cause of my 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;
By the life of the Lord your God, there is not a nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent in search of you; and when they said, He is not here; he made them take an oath that they had not seen you.
11 and now, you are saying, Go, say to your lord, Behold, Elijah;
And now you say, Go, say to your lord, 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.
And straight away, when I have gone from you, the spirit of the Lord will take you away, I have no idea where, so that when I come and give word to Ahab, and he sees you not, he will put me to death: though I, your servant, have been a worshipper of the Lord from my earliest years.
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?
Has my lord not had word of what I did when Jezebel was putting the Lord's prophets to death? how I kept a hundred of them in a secret hole in the rock, fifty at a time, and gave them bread 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 and say to your Lord, Elijah is here; and he will put me to death.
15 And Elijah says, “YHWH of Hosts lives, before whom I have stood, surely I appear to him today.”
And Elijah said, By the life of the Lord of armies, whose servant I am, I will certainly let him see me today.
16 Obadiah goes to meet Ahab, and declares [it] to him, and Ahab goes to meet Elijah.
So Obadiah went to Ahab and gave him the news; and Ahab went to see Elijah.
17 [And it] comes to pass at Ahab’s seeing Elijah that Ahab says to him, “Are you he—the troubler of Israel?”
And when he saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, Is it you, you 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;
Then he said in answer, I have not been troubling Israel, but you and your family; because, turning away from the orders of the Lord, you have gone after 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 send, and get Israel together before me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal who get their food 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 sent for all the children of Israel, and got the prophets together at 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.
And Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you go on balancing between two opinions? if the Lord is God, then give worship to him; but if Baal, give worship to him. And the people said not a word in answer.
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, even I, am the only living prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men.
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—
Now, let them give us two oxen; and let them take one for themselves, and have it cut up, and put it on the wood, but put no fire under it; I will get the other ox ready, and put it on the wood, and put no fire under it.
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.”
And do you make prayers to your god, and I will make a prayer to the Lord: and it will be clear that the one who gives an answer by fire is God. And all the people in answer said, It is well said.
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, Take one ox for yourselves and get it ready first, for there are more of you; and make your prayers to your god, but put no fire under.
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.
So they took the ox which was given them, and made it ready, crying out to Baal from morning till the middle of the day, and saying, O Baal, give ear to us. But there was no voice and no answer. And they were jumping up and down before 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.”
And in the middle of the day, Elijah made sport of them, saying, Give louder cries, for he is a god; he may be deep in thought, or he may have gone away for some purpose, or he may be on a journey, or by chance he is sleeping and has to be made awake.
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 gave loud cries, cutting themselves with knives and swords, as was their way, till the blood came streaming out all 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.
And from the middle of the day they went on with their prayers till the time of the offering; but there was no voice, or any answer, or any who gave attention to them.
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; and all the people came near. And he put up again the altar of the Lord which had been broken 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, the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the Lord had said, Israel will 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 he made an altar to the name of the Lord; and he made a deep drain all round the altar, great enough to take two measures 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”;
And he put the wood in order, and, cutting up the ox, put it on the wood. Then he said, Get four vessels full of water and put it on the burned offering and on the wood. And he said, Do it a second time, and they did it a second time;
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 he said, Do it a third time, and they did it a third time.
35 and the water goes around the altar, and he has also filled the trench with water.
And the water went all round the altar, till the drain was full.
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;
Then at the time of the offering, Elijah the prophet came near and said, O Lord, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be seen this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things by your order.
37 answer me, O YHWH, answer me, and this people [then] knows that You [are] YHWH God; and You have turned their heart backward.”
Give me an answer, O Lord, give me an answer, so that this people may see that you are God, and that you have made their hearts come 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 came down, burning up the offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and drinking up the water in the drain.
39 And all the people see, and fall on their faces, and say, “YHWH, He [is] the God! YHWH, He [is] the God!”
And when the people saw it, they all went down on their faces, 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.
And Elijah said to them, Take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them get away. So they took them, and Elijah made them go down to the stream Kishon, and put them to death there.
41 And Elijah says to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, because of the sound of the noise of the shower.”
Then Elijah said to Ahab, Up! take food and drink, for there is a sound of much 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 have food and drink, while Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he went down on the earth, putting 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.
And he said to his servant, Go now, and take a look in the direction of the sea. And he went up, and after looking said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times; and he went seven times.
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.”
And the seventh time he said, I see a cloud coming up out of the sea, as small as a man's hand. Then he said, Go up and say to Ahab, Get your carriage ready and go down or the rain will keep you back.
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,
And after a very little time, the heaven became black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab went in his carriage 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 was on Elijah; and he made himself strong, and went running before Ahab till they came to Jezreel.
