17

1Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”

2Then Yahweh’s word came to him, saying, 3“Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan. 4You shall drink from the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5So he went and did according to Yahweh’s word, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith that is before the Jordan. 6The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. 7After a while, the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

8Yahweh’s word came to him, saying, 9“Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you.”

10So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.”

11As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

12She said, “As Yahweh your God lives, I don’t have anything baked, but only a handful of meal in a jar and a little oil in a jar. Behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”

13Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you have said; but make me a little cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for you and for your son. 14For Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘The jar of meal will not run out, and the jar of oil will not fail, until the day that Yahweh sends rain on the earth.’”

15She went and did according to the saying of Elijah; and she, he, and her household ate many days. 16The jar of meal didn’t run out and the jar of oil didn’t fail, according to Yahweh’s word, which he spoke by Elijah.

17After these things, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18She said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!”

19He said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the room where he stayed, and laid him on his own bed. 20He cried to Yahweh and said, “Yahweh my God, have you also brought evil on the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?”

21He stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to Yahweh and said, “Yahweh my God, please let this child’s soul come into him again.”

22Yahweh listened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23Elijah took the child and brought him down out of the room into the house, and delivered him to his mother; and Elijah said, “Behold, your son lives.”

24The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that Yahweh’s word in your mouth is truth.”

18

1After many days, Yahweh’s word came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth.”

2Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria. 3Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared Yahweh greatly; 4for when Jezebel cut off Yahweh’s prophets, Obadiah took one hundred prophets, and hid them fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) 5Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land, to all the springs of water, and to all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we not lose all the animals.”

6So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. 7As Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him. He recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?”

8He answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your lord, ‘Behold, Elijah is here!’”

9He said, “How have I sinned, that you would deliver your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me? 10As Yahweh your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. When they said, ‘He is not here,’ he took an oath of the kingdom and nation that they didn’t find you. 11Now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here.”’ 12It will happen, as soon as I leave you, that Yahweh’s Spirit will carry you I don’t know where; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he can’t find you, he will kill me. But I, your servant, have feared Yahweh from my youth. 13Wasn’t it told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed Yahweh’s prophets, how I hid one hundred men of Yahweh’s prophets with fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water? 14Now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here”.’ He will kill me.”

15Elijah said, “As Yahweh of Armies lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.” 16So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

17When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”

18He answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken Yahweh’s commandments and you have followed the Baals. 19Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel to Mount Carmel, and four hundred fifty of the prophets of Baal, and four hundred of the prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

20So Ahab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together to Mount Carmel. 21Elijah came near to all the people, and said, “How long will you waver between the two sides? If Yahweh is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.”

The people didn’t say a word.

22Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left as a prophet of Yahweh; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred fifty men. 23Let them therefore give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under; and I will dress the other bull, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under it. 24You call on the name of your god, and I will call on Yahweh’s name. The God who answers by fire, let him be God.”

All the people answered, “What you say is good.”

25Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves, and dress it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.”

26They took the bull which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, “Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice, and nobody answered. They leaped about the altar which was made.

27At noon, Elijah mocked them, and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is deep in thought, or he has gone somewhere, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he sleeps and must be awakened.”

28They cried aloud, and cut themselves in their way with knives and lances until the blood gushed out on them. 29When midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the evening offering; but there was no voice, no answer, and nobody paid attention.

30Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me!”; and all the people came near to him. He repaired Yahweh’s altar that had been thrown down. 31Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom Yahweh’s word came, saying, “Israel shall be your name.” 32With the stones he built an altar in Yahweh’s name. He made a trench around the altar large enough to contain two seahs of seed. 33He put the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. He said, “Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” 34He said, “Do it a second time;” and they did it the second time. He said, “Do it a third time;” and they did it the third time. 35The water ran around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.

36At the time of the evening offering, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. 37Hear me, Yahweh, hear me, that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God, and that you have turned their heart back again.”

38Then Yahweh’s fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust; and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 39When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces. They said, “Yahweh, he is God! Yahweh, he is God!”

40Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Don’t let one of them escape!”

They seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and killed them there.

41Elijah said to Ahab, “Get up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.”

42So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bowed himself down on the earth, and put his face between his knees. 43He said to his servant, “Go up now and look toward the sea.”

He went up and looked, then said, “There is nothing.”

He said, “Go again” seven times.

44On the seventh time, he said, “Behold, a small cloud, like a man’s hand, is rising out of the sea.”

He said, “Go up, tell Ahab, ‘Get ready and go down, so that the rain doesn’t stop you.’”

45In a little while, the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. 46Yahweh’s hand was on Elijah; and he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.