Chronological Plan

¹Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by My word."

²And the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

³"Go from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan [River].

⁴You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to sustain you there [with food]."

⁵So he went and did in accordance with the word of the LORD; he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.

⁶And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he would drink from the brook.

⁷It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

⁸Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

⁹"Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you."

¹⁰So he set out and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks [for firewood]. He called out to her and said, "Please bring me a little water in a jar, so that I may drink."

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

¹²But she said, "As the LORD your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar. See, I am gathering a few sticks so that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it [as our last meal] and die."

¹³Elijah said to her, "Do not fear; go and do as you have said. Just make me a little bread from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son.

¹⁴For this is what the LORD God of Israel says: 'The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted nor shall the jar of oil be empty until the day that the LORD sends rain [again] on the face of the earth.'"

¹⁵She went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days.

¹⁶The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, in accordance the word of the LORD which He spoke through Elijah.

¹⁷It happened after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.

¹⁸So she said to Elijah, "What [problem] is there between you and me, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to mind and to put my son to death?"

¹⁹He said to her, "Give me your son." Then he took him from her arms and carried him up to the upper room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed.

²⁰He called to the LORD and said, "O LORD my God, have You brought further tragedy to the widow with whom I am staying, by causing her son to die?"

²¹Then he stretched himself out upon the child three times, and called to the LORD and said, "O LORD my God, please let this child's life return to him."

²²The LORD heard the voice of Elijah, and the life of the child returned to him and he revived.

²³Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the [lower part of the] house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, "See, your son is alive."

²⁴Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth."

¹Now it happened after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, "Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth."

²So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria.

³Ahab called Obadiah who was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly;

⁴for when Jezebel destroyed the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water.)

⁵Then Ahab said to Obadiah, "Go into the land to all the sources of water and to all the streams; perhaps we may find grass and keep the horses and mules alive, and not have to kill some of the cattle."

⁶So they divided the land between them to survey 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 face downward [out of respect] and said, "Is it you, my lord Elijah?"

⁸He answered him, "It is I. Go tell your master, 'Elijah is here.'"

⁹But he said, "What sin have I committed, that you would hand over your servant to Ahab to put me to death?

¹⁰As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent messengers to seek you; and when they said, 'He is not here,' Ahab made the kingdom or nation swear that they had not found you.

¹¹And now you are saying, 'Go, tell your master, "Behold, Elijah [is here]."'

¹²And as soon as I leave you, the Spirit of the LORD will carry you to a place I do not know; so when I come to tell Ahab and he does not find you, he will kill me. Yet your servant has [reverently] feared the LORD from my youth.

¹³Has it not been told to my lord [Elijah] what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, how I hid a hundred of the Lord's prophets by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water?

¹⁴And now you are saying, 'Go, tell your master, "Elijah is here"'; and he will kill me."

¹⁵Elijah said, "As the LORD of hosts (armies) lives, before whom I stand, I will certainly show myself to Ahab today."

¹⁶So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

¹⁷When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, "Are you the one who is bringing disaster on Israel?"

¹⁸Elijah said, "I have not brought disaster on Israel, but you and your father's household have, by abandoning (rejecting) the commandments of the LORD and by following the Baals.

¹⁹Now then, send word and gather to me all Israel at Mount Carmel, together with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of [the goddess] Asherah, who eat at [Queen] Jezebel's table."

²⁰So Ahab sent word to all the Israelites and assembled the [pagan] prophets together at Mount Carmel.

²¹Elijah approached all the people and said, "How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people [of Israel] did not answer him [so much as] a word.

²²Then Elijah said to the people, "I alone remain a prophet of the LORD, while Baal's prophets are 450 men.

²³Now let them give us two oxen, and let them choose one ox for themselves and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. I will prepare the other ox and lay it on the wood, and I will not put a fire under it.

²⁴Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the god who answers by fire, He is God." And all the people answered, "It is well spoken."

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

²⁶So they took the bull that was given to them and prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, "O Baal, hear and answer us." But there was no voice and no one answered. And they leaped about the altar which they had made.

²⁷At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, "Cry out with a loud voice, for he is a god; either he is occupied, or he is out [at the moment], or he is on a journey. Perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened!"

²⁸So they cried out with a loud voice [to get Baal's attention] and cut themselves with swords and lances in accordance with their custom, until the blood flowed out on them.

²⁹As midday passed, they played the part of prophets and raved dramatically until the time for offering the evening sacrifice; but there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention.

³⁰Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me." So all the people approached him. And he repaired and rebuilt the [old] altar of the LORD that had been torn down [by Jezebel].

³¹Then Elijah took twelve stones in accordance with the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, "Israel shall be your name."

³²So with the stones Elijah built an altar in the name of the LORD. He made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed.

³³Then he laid out the wood and cut the ox in pieces and laid it on the wood.

³⁴And he said, "Fill four pitchers with water and pour it on the burnt offering and the wood." And he said, "Do it the second time." And they did it the second time. And he said, "Do it the third time." And they did it a third time.

³⁵The water flowed around the altar, and he also filled the trench with water.

³⁶At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached [the altar] and said, "O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (Jacob), 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.

³⁷Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so that this people may know that You, O LORD, are God, and that You have turned their hearts back [to You]."

³⁸Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood, and even the stones and the dust; it also licked up the water in the trench.

³⁹When all the people saw it, they fell face downward; and they said, "The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!"

⁴⁰Then Elijah said to them, "Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape." They seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and [as God's law required] killed them there.

⁴¹Now Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of the roar of an abundance of rain."

⁴²So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he crouched down to the earth and put his face between his knees,

⁴³and he said to his servant, "Go up, look toward the sea." So he went up and looked and said, "There is nothing." Elijah said, "Go back" seven times.

⁴⁴And at the seventh time the servant said, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is coming up from the sea." And Elijah said, "Go up, say to Ahab, 'Prepare your chariot and go down, so that the rain shower does not stop you.'"

⁴⁵In a little while the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and there were heavy showers. And Ahab mounted and rode [his chariot] and went [inland] to Jezreel.

⁴⁶Then the hand of the LORD came upon Elijah [giving him supernatural strength]. He girded up his loins and outran Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel [nearly twenty miles].

¹Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets [of Baal] with the sword.

²Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So may the gods do to me, and even more, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like the life of one of them."

³And Elijah was afraid and arose and ran for his life, and he came to Beersheba which belongs to Judah, and he left his servant there.

⁴But he himself traveled a day's journey into the wilderness, and he came and sat down under a juniper tree and asked [God] that he might die. He said, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers."

⁵He lay down and slept under the juniper tree, and behold, an angel touched him and said to him, "Get up and eat."

⁶He looked, and by his head there was a bread cake baked on hot coal, and a pitcher of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again.

⁷Then the angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, "Get up, and eat, for the journey is too long for you [without adequate sustenance]."

⁸So he got up and ate and drank, and with the strength of that food he traveled forty days and nights to Horeb (Sinai), the mountain of God.

⁹There he came to a cave and spent the night in it; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

¹⁰He said, "I have been very zealous (impassioned) for the LORD God of hosts (armies) [proclaiming what is rightfully and uniquely His]; for the sons of Israel have abandoned (broken) Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I, only I, am left; and they seek to take away my life."

¹¹So He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD." And behold, the LORD was passing by, and a great and powerful wind was tearing out the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind, [there was] an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

¹²After the earthquake, [there was] a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire, [there was] the sound of a gentle blowing.

¹³When Elijah heard the sound, he wrapped his face in his mantle (cloak) and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

¹⁴He said, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts (armies), because the sons of Israel have abandoned (broken) Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I, only I, am left; and they seek to take away my life."

¹⁵The LORD said to him, "Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram (Syria);

¹⁶and you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place.

¹⁷It shall come about that Jehu shall put to death whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, and Elisha shall put to death whoever escapes the sword of Jehu.

¹⁸Yet I will leave 7,000 [survivors] in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed down to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him."

¹⁹So Elijah departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, while he was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. Elijah went over to him and threw his mantle (coat) on him.

²⁰He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, "Please let me kiss my father and mother [goodbye], then I will follow you." And he said to him, "Go on back; for what have I done to [stop] you?"

²¹So Elisha left him and went back. Then he took a pair of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their meat with the implements of the oxen [as fuel], and gave the meat to the people, and they ate. Then he stood and followed Elijah, and served him.