First Book of Kings, 17 - 19
AHAB SON OF OMRI BECAME KING of Israel in the thirty-eighth
year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel in Samaria for
twenty-two years. He did more that was wrong in the eyes of the LORD than
all his predecessors . As if it were not enough for him to follow the sinful
ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, he contracted a marriage with Jezebel
daughter of Ethbaal king of Sidon, and went and worshipped Baal; he
prostrated himself before him and erected an altar to to him in the temple of
Baal which he built in Samaria. He also set up a sacred pole; indeed he did
more to provoke the anger of the LORD the God of Israel than all the kings
of Israel before him. In his days Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho, laying its
foundations cost him his eldest son Abiram, and the setting up of its gates
cost him Segub his youngest son. Thus was fulfilled what the LORD had
spoken through Joshua son of Nun.
17 Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, 'I swear by the
life of the LORD the God of Israel, whose servant I am, that there shall be
neither dew nor rain these coming years unless I give the word.' Then the
word of the LORD came to him: 'Leave this place and turn eastwards; and
go into hiding in the ravine of Kerith east of the Jordan. You shall drink
from the stream, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.' He
did as the LORD had told him: he went and stayed in the ravine of Kerith
east of the Jordan, and the ravens brought him bread and meat morning
and evening, and he drank from the stream. After a while the stream dried
up, for there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the LORD
came to him: 'Go now to Zarephath, a village of Sidon, and stay there;
I have commanded a widow there to feed you.' So he went off to Zarephath.
When he reached the entrance to the village, he saw a widow gathering
sticks, and he called to her and said, 'As the LORD your God lives,
I have no food to sustain me except a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil
in a flask. Here I am, gathering two or three sticks to go and cook something
for my son and myself before we die.' 'Never fear,' said Elijah; 'go and do
as you say; but first make me a small cake from what you have and bring it
out to me; and after that make something for your son and yourself. For
this is the word of the LORD the God of Israel: "The jar of flour shall not
give out nor the flask of oil fail, until the LORD sends rain on the land."'
She went and did as Elijah had said, and there was food for him and for
her and her family for a long time. The jar of flour did not give out nor did
the flask of oil fail, as the word of the LORD foretold through Elijah.
Afterwards the son of this woman, the mistress of the house, fell ill and
grew worse and worse, until at last his breathing ceased. Then she said to
Elijah, 'What made you interfere, you man of God? You came here to
bring my sins to light and kill my son!' 'Give me your son', he said. He
took the boy from her arms ad carried him up to the roof-chamber where
his lodging was, and laid him on his own bed. Then he called out to the
LORD, 'O LORD my God, is this thy care for the widow with whom I lodge,
that thou hast been so cruel to her son?' Then he breathed deeply upon the
child three times and called on the LORD, 'O LORD my God, let the breath of
life, I pray, return to the body of this child.' The LORD listened to Elijah's
cry, and the breath of life returned to the child's body, and he revived;
Elijah lifted him up and took him down from the roof into the house, gave
him to his mother and said, 'Look, your son is alive.' Then she said to
Elijah, 'Now I know for certain that you are a man of God and that the
word of the LORD in your lips is truth.'
18 Time went by, and in the third yer the word of the LORD came to
Elijah: 'Go and show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the land.'
So he went to show himself to Ahab. At this time the famine in Samaria
was at its height, and Ahab summoned Obadiah, the comptroller of his
household, a devout worshipper of the LORD. When Jezebel massacred
the prophets of the LORD, he had taken a hundred of them and hidden
them in caves, fifty by fifty, giving them food and drink to keep them alive.
Ahab said to Obadiah, 'Let us go through the land, both of us, to every
spring and gully; if we can find enough grass we may keep the horses and
mules alive and lose none of our cattle.' They divided the land between
them for their survey, Ahab going one way by himself and Obadiah
another.
As Obadiah was on his way, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him and
fell prostrate before him and said, 'Can it be you, my lord Elijah?' 'Yes,'
he said, 'it is I; go and tell your master that Elijah is here.' What wrong
have I done?' said Obadiah. 'Why should you give me into Ahab's hands?
He will put me to death. As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or
kingdom to which my master has not sent in search of you. If they said,
"He is not here", he made that kingdom or nation swear an oath that they
could not find you. Yet now you say, "Go and tell your master that Elijah
is here." What will happen? As soon as I leave you, the spirit of the LORD
will carry you away, who knows where? I shall go and tell Ahab, and when
he fails to find you, he will kill me. Yet I have been a worshipper of the
LORD from boyhood. Have you not been told, my lord, what I did when
Jezebel put the LORD's prophets to death, how I hid a hundred of them in
caves, fifty by fifty, and kep them alive with food and drink? And now you
say, "Go and tell your master that Elijah is here"! He will kill me.' Elijah
answered, 'As the LORD of Hosts lives, whose servant I am, I swear that I
will show myself to him this very day.' So Obadiah went to find Ahab and
gave him the message, and Ahab went to meet Elijah.
As soon as Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, 'Is it you, you troubler of
Israel?' 'It is not I who have trouble Israel,' he replied, 'but you and
your father's family, by forsaking the commandments of the LORD and
following Baal. But now, send and summon all Israel to meet me on Mount
Carmel, and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal with them and the
four hundred prophets of the goddess Asherah, who are Jezebel's pen-
sioners.' So Ahab sent out to all the Israelites and assembled the prophets
on Mount Carmel. Elijah stepped forward and said to the people, 'How
long will you sit on the fence? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal,
then follow him.' Not a word did they answer. Then Elijah said to the
people, 'I am the only prophet of the LORD still left, but there are four
hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. Bring two bulls; let them choose one
for themselves, cut it up and lay it on the wood without setting fire to it.
You shall invoke your god by name and I will invoke the LORD by name;
and the god who answers by fire, he is God.' And all the people shouted
their approval.
Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, 'Choose one of the bulls and
offer it first, for there are more of you; invoke your god by name, but do
not set fire to the wood.' So they took the bull provided for them and
offered it, and they invoked Baal by name from morning until noon,
crying, 'Baal, Baal, answer us'; but there was no sound, no answer. They
danced wildly beside the altar they had set up. At midday Elijah mocked
them: 'Call louder, for he is just a god; it may be he is deep in thought, or
engaged, or on a journey; or he may have gone to sleep and must be woken
up.' They cried still louder and, as was their custom, gashed themselves
with swords and spears until the blood ran. All afternoon they raved and
ranted till the hour of the regular sacrifice, but still there was no sound, no
answer, no sign of attention.
Then Elijah said to the people, 'Come here to me.' They all came,
and he repaired the altar of the LORD which had been torn down. He took
twelve stones, one for each tribe of the sons of Jacob, the man named
Israel by the word of the LORD. With these stones he built an altar in the
name of the LORD; he dug a trench round it big enough to hold two
measures of seed; he arranged the wood, cut up the bull and laid it on the
wood. Then he said, 'Fill four jars with water and pour it on the whole-
offering and on the wood.' They did so, and he said, 'Do it again.' They did
it again, and he said, 'Do it a third time.' They did it a third time, and the
water ran all round the altar and even filled the trench. At the hour of the
regular sacrifice the prophet Elijah came forward and said, 'LORD God of
Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be know today that thou art God
in Israel and that I am thy servant and have done all these things at thy
command. Answer me, O LORD, answer me and let this people know that
thou, LORD, art God and that it is thou that hast caused them to be back-
sliders.' Then the fire of the LORD fell. It consumed the whole-offering,
the wood, the stones, and the earth, and licked up the water in the trench.
When all the people saw it, they fell prostrate and cried, 'The LORD is
God, the LORD is God.' Then Elijah aid to them, 'Seize the prophets of
Baal; let not one of them escape.' They seized them, and Elijah took them
down to the Kishon and slaughtered them there in the valley.
Elijah said to Ahab, 'Go back now, eat and drink, for I hear the sound
of coming rain.' He did so, while Elijah himself climbed to the crest of
Carmel. There he crouched on the ground with his face between his
knees. He said to his servant, 'Go and look out to the west.' He went and
looked; 'There is nothing to see', he said. Seven times Elijah ordered him
back, and seven times he went. The seventh time he said, 'I see a cloud no
bigger than a man's hand, coming up from the west.' Now go', said
Elijah, 'and tell Ahab to harness his chariot and be off, or the rain will
stop him.' Meanwhile the sky had grown black with clouds, the wind rose,
and heavy rain began to fall. Ahab mounted his chariot and set off for
Jezreel; but the power of the LORD had come upon Elijah: he tucked up
his robe and ran before Ahab all the way to Jezreel.
19 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had put all the
prophets to death with the sword. Jezebel then sent a messenger to Elijah
to say, 'The gods do the same to me and more, unless by this time to-
morrow I have taken your life as you took theirs.' He was afraid and fled
for his life. When he reached Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there
and himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. He came upon a
broom-bush, and sat down under it and prayed for death: 'It is enough,'
he said; 'now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers before
me.' He lay down under the bush and, while he slept, an angel touched
him and said, 'Rise and eat.' He looked, and there at his head was a cake
baked on hot stones, and a pitcher of water. He ate and drank and lay down
again. The angel of the LORD came again and touched him a second time,
saying, 'Rise and eat; the journey is too much for you.' He rose and ate and
drank and, sustained by this food, he went on for forty days and forty
nights to Horeb, the mount of God. He entered a cave and there he spent
the night.
Suddenly the word of the LORD came to him: 'Why are you here,
Elijah?' 'Because of my great zeal for the LORD the God of Hosts', he said.
'The people of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, torn down thy altars
and put thy prophets to death with the sword. I alone am left, and they
seek to take my life.' The answer came: 'Go and stand on the mount before
the LORD.' For the LORD was passing by: a great and strong wind came
rending mountains and shattering rocks before him, but the LORD was not
in the wind; and after the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD
was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but the LORD
was not in the fire; and after the fire a low murmuring sound. When
Elijah heard it, he muffled his face in his cloak and went out and stood at
the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice: 'Why are you here,
Elijah?' 'Because of my great zeal for the LORD the God of Hosts', he said.
'The people of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, torn down thy altars
and put thy prophets to death with the sword. I alone am left, and they
seek to take my life.'
The LORD said to him, 'Go back by way of the wilderness of Damascus,
enter the city and anoint Hazael to be king of Aram; anoint Jehu son of
Nimshi to be king of Israel, and Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah
to be prophet in your place. Anyone who escapes the sword of Hazael Jehu
will slay, and anyone who escapes the sword of Jehu Elisha will slay. But
I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all who have not bent the knee to Baal,
all whose lips have not kissed him.'
Elijah departed and found Elisha son of Shaphat ploughing; there were
twelve pair of oxen ahead of him, and he himself was with the last of them.
As Elijah passed, he threw his cloak over him, and Elisha, leaving his oxen,
ran after Elijah and said, 'Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, and
then I will follow you.' 'Go back,' he replied; 'what have I done to prevent
you.' He followed him no further but went home, took his pair of oxen,
slaughtered them and burnt the wooden gear to cook the flesh, which he
gave to the people to eat. Then he followed Elijah and became his disciple.
The New English Bible (with Apocrypha)
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970
Posted May 8, 2019, 12:29 PM UTC
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