1 Kings 18

For a long time, almost three years, it did not rain in Israel. Then God told Elijah: “Go and meet with King Ahab so that I may make it rain again.”

So Elijah went to meet with Ahab. By this time, there was almost no food in Samaria for anyone to eat. \*

{As Elijah was approaching,} Ahab summoned one of his officials. His name was Obadiah. He was in charge of the royal palace. (Obadiah greatly revered God.

Queen Jezebel had tried to kill all of God’s prophets, but Obadiah had hidden 100 of them in two caves. He had put 50 prophets in each cave, and he had brought food and water to them.) \*

Ahab told Obadiah, “I want you to go throughout the country and check every spring and every stream bed to see whether we can find enough grass to feed the horses and mules so that they will not all die. If we can find grass, we will also not have to slaughter all of the cattle.”

They agreed to look separately in different parts of the country. Ahab went in one direction, and Obadiah went in another direction.

As Obadiah was walking along, he saw Elijah coming toward him. Obadiah recognized Elijah, and he bowed down respectfully to him. Then he said, “Is it really you, Elijah, my master?”

Elijah replied, “Yes, it is. Now go and tell your master Ahab that I am here.” \*

Obadiah responded, “I have done nothing wrong to deserve the punishment I would get {if I told Ahab that}! {Because of what would happen next,} he would order his soldiers to kill me!

I swear by God your God that King Ahab sent messengers to the rulers of every kingdom and people group around us to find out whether you were living with them. Every ruler told him, ‘Elijah is not here.’ Ahab then demanded that the ruler solemnly swear that he was telling the truth{, and each one did}.

But now you are telling me, ‘Go tell your master that Elijah is here!’ \*

I believe that when I leave you, the Spirit of God will take you away somewhere, and I will not know where he has taken you. So when I tell Ahab that you are here, and he comes here and discovers that you are not here, he will kill me! But {I do not deserve to die, because} I have revered God ever since I was a boy.

Sir, you must have heard about what I did when Jezebel wanted to kill all of God’s prophets. I hid 100 of them in two caves. I put 50 prophets in each cave and brought food and water to them. \*

But even so, you are telling me, ‘Go and tell your master that Elijah is here.’ {If I do that and he comes and finds that you are not here,} he will kill me!”

But Elijah replied, “I swear by God, the commander of the heavenly armies, the God whom I serve, that I stay right here where Ahab can find me today.” \*

So Obadiah went and told Ahab that Elijah had returned. Ahab came to meet Elijah.

When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is it really you, {Elijah,} who have caused so much trouble for the people of Israel?” \*

Elijah replied, “I am not the one who has caused trouble for the people of Israel! You and your family are the ones who have done that! You have refused to obey God’s commands, and you have worshiped idols representing Baal instead.

So I want you to command leaders from throughout Israel to meet me at Mount Carmel. I want you to tell the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah to go there also. Your wife Jezebel supports those prophets.” \*

So Ahab sent messengers to command leaders from throughout Israel to go to Mount Carmel. He brought all of the prophets of Baal and Asherah there{, and Elijah went there too}.

Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “You must not remain undecided any longer about who is truly God! If God is God, then you should worship him. If Baal is God, then you should worship him!” But the people said nothing in reply. \*

Then Elijah told them, “I am the only prophet of God who is still alive here in Israel, but there are 450 prophets of Baal.

Now bring two bulls here. The prophets of Baal may choose the one that they want. They may kill it and cut it into pieces, and they may {build an altar and put wood on it and} lay the pieces on the wood. But they must not set the wood on fire. I will kill the other bull and cut it in pieces and lay the pieces on wood {that I will put on an altar that I will make}. But I will not set the wood on fire.”

Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “You must pray specifically to Baal as your god, and I will pray specifically to God.” Then Elijah said to the Israelite leaders, “The God who answers by sending fire {to kindle the wood and burn up the sacrifice that is on his altar} is the true God!” The Israelite leaders agreed to what Elijah proposed. \*

Then Elijah told the prophets of Baal, “You may go first, since there are so many of you. Choose one of the bulls and cut it into pieces. {Make an altar and put wood on it and put the pieces on the wood,} but do not light a fire. Then pray specifically to Baal as your god {and ask him to set the wood on fire}.”

So they chose one of the bulls and cut it into pieces. {They built an altar and put wood on it,} and they placed the pieces on the altar. Then they prayed to Baal specifically as their god all through that morning. They shouted, “Baal, answer us!” Then they danced wildly around the altar that they had made. But no one spoke to them from the sky or did anything in response to their prayer. \*

About noontime, Elijah started to make fun of them. He said, “You believe that Baal is a god, so shout more loudly {to get his attention}! Perhaps {he has not answered you because} he is thinking about something else or because he is relieving himself or because he is not home right now. Maybe he is sleeping but will wake up {if you shout loudly enough}.”

So they shouted even more loudly. They slashed themselves with swords and spears, as they typically did when they worshiped Baal, until blood covered their bodies.

They kept calling out to Baal until the middle of the afternoon, when it would soon be the time when it was customary to make a grain offering. But no one spoke to them from the sky or did anything in response to their prayer or paid any attention to it. \*

Then Elijah called to the people saying, “Come over here!” So they all crowded around him. There had been an altar to God there, but people who worshiped Baal had broken it apart. Elijah repaired it.

To do that, he took 12 large stones, one to represent each of the tribes whose ancestors were the sons of Jacob. God had told Jacob, “Your name will now be Israel.”

With these stones, Elijah rebuilt God’s altar. Then he dug a ditch around the altar that was large enough to hold about 15 liters of grain. \*

Elijah stacked some wood on top of the stones. He {killed the bull and} cut it into pieces. Then he laid the pieces on top of the wood.

Then Elijah told the people there, “Fill four large jars with water, and pour the water on top of the pieces of the bull and the wood.” {So they did that.} Then he told them, “Do the same thing again!” So they did it again. Then he told them, “Do it yet again!” So they did it yet again.

The people poured so much water on the altar that it flowed all around the altar and filled the ditch at the bottom of it. \*

It was now {late afternoon,} the time when it was customary to make a grain offering. Elijah walked up to the altar. He prayed, “God, you are the God whom our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Israel worshiped. Prove today that you are the God whom the Israelite people should worship. Also prove that I am your servant and that I have done all these things because you told me to do them.

God, please give the sign that I have described and send down fire! Do that so that these people will know that you, God, are the only true God and that you are working to make them want to worship you again!” \*

Immediately God sent down fire from the sky. The fire burned up the pieces of meat, the wood, the stones, and the dirt that was around the altar. It even dried up all the water in the ditch!

When the people saw that, they bowed down respectfully. People throughout the crowd shouted, “God is the true God!”

Then Elijah commanded the people, “Seize all the prophets of Baal! Do not allow any of them to escape!” So the people seized all the prophets of Baal. They brought them down the mountain to the Kishon valley, and Elijah had the people execute them all there. \*

Then Elijah told Ahab, “Go back up {onto Mount Carmel where your servants have provisions for you} and get something to eat and drink. {But do it quickly,} because {as a prophet,} I can hear the sound of a heavy downpour{, so I know that it will soon rain very hard}!”

So Ahab went back up {onto Mount Carmel} and had something to eat and drink. Elijah himself went up to the top of Mount Carmel. He bowed down reverently with his face almost to the ground {and prayed that God would make it rain}. \*

Then Elijah told his servant, “Please climb up to a place where you can look out at the sea {and see if any rain clouds are forming}.” So his servant went and looked. He {came back and} told Elijah, “There are no clouds forming in the sky above the sea.” Elijah kept sending him back to look, for a total of seven times.

When the servant went the seventh time, he came back and told Elijah, “I saw a cloud forming above the sea. It was very small, like a person’s hand.” Then Elijah told him, “Go and tell King Ahab to have his servants get his chariot ready so he can go home right away. If he does not do that, the rain will stop him!” \*

Very soon a strong wind drove in so many black clouds that they made the sky dark. It began to rain very hard. Ahab was rushing in his chariot back to {his palace in} the city of Jezreel.

God gave extra strength to Elijah. He tucked his cloak into his belt so that he could run, and he ran ahead of Ahab’s chariot all the way to Jezreel. \*