1 Kings 17:1–19:21
Elijah Announces a Great Drought
17 Now Elijahc the Tishbite, from Tishbea in Gilead,d said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor raine in the next few years except at my word.”
2 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hidef in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravensg to supply you with food there.”
5 So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morningh and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
Elijah and the Widow at Zarephath
7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephathi in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widowj there to supply you with food.” 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?”k 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”
12 “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oill in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”
13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rainm on the land.’ ”
15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.
17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sinn and kill my son?”
19 “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he criedo out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretchedp himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”
22 The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his motherq and said, “Look, your son is alive!”
24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I knowr that you are a man of Gods and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”t
18 After a long time, in the thirdu year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Go and presentv yourself to Ahab, and I will send rainw on the land.” 2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.
Now the famine was severex in Samaria, 3 and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his palace administrator.y (Obadiah was a devout believerz in the Lord. 4 While Jezebela was killing off the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hiddenb them in two caves, fifty in each, and had suppliedc them with food and water.) 5 Ahab had said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springsd and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals.”e 6 So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another.
7 As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognizedf him, bowed down to the ground, and said, “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?”
8 “Yes,” he replied. “Go tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’ ”
9 “What have I done wrong,” asked Obadiah, “that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? 10 As surely as the Lord your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to lookg for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. 11 But now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ 12 I don’t know where the Spirith of the Lord may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the Lord since my youth. 13 Haven’t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. 14 And now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ He will kill me!”
15 Elijah said, “As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely presenti myself to Ahab today.”
16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troublerj of Israel?”
18 “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But youk and your father’s family have. You have abandonedl the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. 19 Now summonm the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel.n And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”o
20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel.p 21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waverq between two opinions? If the Lordr is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
But the people said nothing.
22 Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left,s but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets.t 23 Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you callu on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord.v The god who answers by firew—he is God.”
Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”
25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” 26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it.
Then they calledx on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response;y no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.
27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.”z 28 So they shouted louder and slasheda themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice.b But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.c
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altard of the Lord, which had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.”e 32 With the stones he built an altar in the namef of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahsa of seed. 33 He arrangedg the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”
34 “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.
“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
36 At the timeh of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham,i Isaac and Israel, let it be knownj today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.k 37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will knowl that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
38 Then the firem of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostraten and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”o
40 Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valleyp and slaughteredq there.
41 And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” 42 So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.r
43 “Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked.
“There is nothing there,” he said.
Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.”
44 The seventh times the servant reported, “A cloudt as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”
So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’ ”
45 Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rainu started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.v 46 The powerw of the Lord came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt,x he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.
19 Now Ahab told Jezebely everything Elijah had done and …