1 Kings 19–20

Elijah Flees to Horeb

19Then Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. ²Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “Thus may the gods do to me, and may they add to it, surely at this time tomorrow I will make your life as the life of one of them!” ³Then he became afraid,^a got up, and fled for his life.^b He came to Beersheba which belongs to Judah, and he left his servant there. ⁴Then he went into the wilderness one day’s journey, and he went and sat under a certain broom tree. Then he asked Yahweh that he might die,^c and he said, “It is enough now, Yahweh; take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”^{d 5}He lay down and fell asleep under a certain broom tree, and suddenly this angel was touching him and said to him, “Get up, eat!” ⁶He looked, and behold, a bread cake on hot coals was near his head and a jar of water, so he ate and drank. Then he did it again and lay down. ⁷The angel of Yahweh appeared a second time and touched him and said, “Get up, eat, for the journey is greater than you.” ⁸So he got up, ate, drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights up to Horeb, the mountain of God.

Elijah Encounters Yahweh at Horeb

⁹He came to the cave there and spent the night there. Suddenly the word of Yahweh came to him and asked him, “Elijah, what are you doing here?”^{e 10}Then he said, “I have been very zealous for Yahweh the God of hosts, for the Israelites^f have forsaken your covenant. They have demolished your altars, and they have killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left over, and they seek to take my life. ¹¹He^g said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before Yahweh.” Suddenly Yahweh was passing by, with a great and strong wind ripping the mountains and crushing rocks before Yahweh; but Yahweh was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake; but Yahweh was not in the earthquake. ¹²After the earthquake was a fire, but Yahweh was not in the fire. After the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. ¹³It happened at the moment Elijah heard, he covered his face with his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him and said, “Elijah, why are you here?”^{h 14}He said, “I have been very zealous for Yahweh the God of Hosts, for the Israelitesⁱ have forsaken your covenant, demolished your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword; I alone am left, and they seek to take my life!” ¹⁵Then Yahweh said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. Go and anoint Hazael as king over Aram; ¹⁶and Jehu son of Nimshi you shall anoint as king over Israel. You shall also anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-Meholah as prophet in your place. ¹⁷It shall be that the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. ¹⁸I will leave in Israel seven thousand, all of the knees that have not bowed down to Baal and all of the mouths that have not kissed him.”

¹⁹So he went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat while he was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him. When he and the twelve passed Elijah, he threw his cloak on him. ²⁰Then he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will go after you.” Then he said, “Go, return, for what I have done to you?” ²¹So he returned from after him, and he took a pair of oxen and slaughtered them, and with the yoke of the oxen he boiled the flesh and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and served him.

Syrian-Israeli Conflicts: Ben-Hadad vs. Ahab of Israel

20Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathered all of his army, and thirty-two kings were with him, and horses and chariots. He went up and laid siege against Samaria and fought with it. ²He sent messengers to the city to Ahab king of Israel. ³He said to him, “Thus says Ben-Hadad: ‘Your silver and your gold are mine, and your women and your best sons are mine.’ ” ⁴Then the king of Israel answered and said, “As your word, my master the king; I am yours, and all that is mine is yours.” ⁵The messengers returned and said, “Thus says Ben-Hadad, saying, ‘I sent to you saying, “Your silver and gold are mine, and your women and your best sons you must give to me.” ⁶So at this time tomorrow, I will send my servants to you that they might search your house and the houses of your servants. All the desire of your eyes they will lay hands on^a and take it away.’ ”

⁷Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, “Please know and realize that this man is seeking trouble, for he sent to me for my women, my sons, my silver, and my gold, and I did not withhold anything from him.” ⁸All of the elders and all of the people said to him, “Do not listen and do not consent.” ⁹So he said to the messengers of Ben-Hadad, “Say to my lord the king, ‘All that you demanded from your servant at the first, I will do, but this thing I am not able to do.’ ” Then the messengers went and made a report to him.^{b 10}Then Ben-Hadad sent to him and said, “Thus may the gods do to me and thus may they add if the dust of Samaria is sufficient for the hollow of a hand for all of the people who are at my feet.” ¹¹The king of Israel answered and said, “Tell him, ‘Let not him who girds on his armor boast as one who takes off his armor.’ ” ¹²It happened at the moment he heard this word, he and the kings were drinking in the tents.^c He said to his servants, “Get ready to attack.” So they got ready to attack the city.

¹³Suddenly a certain prophet approached Ahab king of Israel and said, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Have you seen all this great crowd? Behold, I am giving it into your hand today, that you may know that I am Yahweh.’ ” ¹⁴Ahab said, “By whom?” And he said, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘By the servants of the commanders of the provinces.’ ” He asked, “Who will begin the battle?” And he said, “You.” ¹⁵So he mustered the servants of the commanders of the provinces, and there were two hundred and thirty-two. After them he mustered all of the army, all the sons of Israel, seven thousand.

¹⁶They went out at noon while Ben-Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the tents, he and the thirty-two kings helping him. ¹⁷Then the servants of the commanders of the provinces went out first, and Ben-Hadad sent, and they reported to him, saying, “Men have come out from Samaria.” ¹⁸Then he said, “If they have come out for peace, seize them alive; and if they have come out for war, seize them alive.” ¹⁹But these had come out from the city, the servants of the commanders of the provinces, and the army that was after them. ²⁰Each man killed his man, and the Arameans fled, so Israel pursued them, but Ben-Hadad king of Aram escaped on a horse with cavalry. ²¹The king of Israel went out and attacked the horses and the chariots and defeated Aram with a great blow.

²²Then the prophet came near to the king of Israel, and he said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself; consider well^d what you should do, for the king of Aram is coming against you at the turn of the year.”

²³The servants of the king of Aram said to him, “Their gods are gods of the mountains, therefore they were stronger than we.^e Let us fight with them in the plain; surely we will be stronger than they. ²⁴Do this thing: remove the kings each from his post, and put a governor in their place. ²⁵You must muster an army for yourself as the army you have lost,^f and horses and chariots as the horses and chariots you lost, then we will fight them in the plain. Surely we will be stronger than they.” So he listened to their voice and did so.

²⁶It happened at the turning of the year that Ben-Hadad mustered Aram and went up to Aphek for the war with Israel. ²⁷The Israelites^g had been mustered and provisioned, and they went to engage them. The Israelites^h encamped opposite them as two flocks of goats, but the Arameans filled the land. ²⁸Then the man of God approached, and he spoke to the king of Israel, and he said, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Because Aram has said, “Yahweh is a god of the mountains and not a god of the valleys,” ’ I will give all this great crowd into your hand that you may know that I am Yahweh.” ²⁹These encamped opposite for seven days, and it happened on the seventh day that the battle began,ⁱ and the Israelites^j killed the Arameans, one hundred thousand infantry in one day. ³⁰Then those who remained fled to Aphek, to the city, and the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand men who had remained, so Ben-Hadad fled and went to the innermost rooms of the city.

³¹Then his servants said to him, “Please now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are kings of mercy. Let us now put sackcloth on around our waists and ropes on our heads. Then let us go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will let you live.”^{k 32}So they tied sackcloth around their waists and ropes on their heads. Then they went to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-Hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’ ” And he said, “Is my brother still alive?” ³³The men took this as a good omen and they quickly accepted it as true from him, and they said, “Your brother Ben-Hadad lives.” So he said, “Go, get him.” Ben-Hadad came out to him, and Ahab pulled him up on the chariot. ³⁴Ben-Hadad said to him, “The cities which my father took from your father I shall return. You may set up streets with stalls for yourself in Damascus just as my father set up in Samaria.” Then Ahab said, “On these terms^l I will let you go,” So he made a covenant with him and let him go.

³⁵A certain man from the sons of the prophets said to his fellow countryman, “By the word of Yahweh, please strike me.” But the man refused to strike him.

³⁶He said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh, look, as you now are going from me, a lion will kill you.” When he went from beside him, the lion found him and killed him. ³⁷Then…