1 Kings 19:1–15

Elijah Escapes from Jezebel

19And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had ^aexecuted all the prophets with the sword. ²Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ^b“So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” ³And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

⁴But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a ¹broom tree. And he ^cprayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”

⁵Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an ²angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” ⁶Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on ³coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. ⁷And the ⁴angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” ⁸So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and ^dforty nights as far as ^eHoreb, the mountain of God.

⁹And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁰So he said, ^f“I have been very ^gzealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and ^hkilled Your prophets with the sword. ⁱI alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”

God’s Revelation to Elijah

¹¹Then He said, “Go out, and stand ^jon the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord ^kpassed by, and ^la great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; ¹²and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire ⁵a still small voice.

¹³So it was, when Elijah heard it, that ^mhe wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. ⁿSuddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

^14oAnd he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”

¹⁵Then the Lord said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; ^pand when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria.