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 certainly be neither dew nor rain during these years, except by my word.”

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

³“Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.

⁴And it shall be that you will drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide food for you there.”

⁵So he went and did everything according to the word of the LORD, for 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.

⁷But it 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 food for you.”

¹⁰So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the entrance of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a cup, 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 food, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks so that I may go in and prepare it for me and my son, so that we may eat it and die.”

¹³However, Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said. Just make me a little bread loaf 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, the God of Israel says: ‘The bowl of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil become empty, until the day that the LORD provides rain on the face of the earth.’ ”

¹⁵So she went and did everything in accordance with the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days.

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

¹⁷Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his condition became very grave, until at the end he was no longer breathing.

¹⁸So she said to Elijah, “Why is my business any of yours, you man of God? Yet you have come to me to bring my wrongdoing to remembrance, and to put my son to death!”

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

²⁰And he called to the LORD and said, “LORD, my God, have You also brought catastrophe upon the widow with whom I am staying, by causing her son to die?”

²¹Then he stretched himself out over the boy three times, and called to the LORD and said, “LORD, my God, please, let this boy’s life return to him.”

²²And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah, and the life of the boy returned to him and he revived.

²³Elijah then took the boy and brought him down from the upstairs room into 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, present yourself to Ahab, and I will provide rain on the face of the earth.”

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

³Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of the household. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly;

⁴for when Jezebel killed 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 through the land to all the springs of water and to all the river valleys; perhaps we will 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.

⁷Now as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him, and he recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is it you, Elijah my master?”

⁸And he said to him, “It is I. Go, say to your master, ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’ ”

⁹But he said, “What sin have I committed, that you are handing your servant over to Ahab, to put me to death?

¹⁰As surely as the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom to which my master has not sent word to search for you; and whenever they say, ‘He is not here,’ he makes the kingdom or nation swear that they could not find you.

¹¹Yet now you are saying, ‘Go, say to your master, “Behold, Elijah is here!” ’

¹²And it will come about when I leave you that the Spirit of the LORD will carry you to where I do not know; so when I come and inform Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, though I, your servant, have feared the LORD from my youth.

¹³Has it not been reported to my master what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, that I hid a hundred prophets of the LORD by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water?

¹⁴Yet now you are saying, ‘Go, say to your master, “Behold, Elijah is here” ’; he will then kill me!”

¹⁵Then Elijah said, “As surely as the LORD of armies lives, before whom I stand, I will certainly present myself to him today.”

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

¹⁷When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is this you, the cause of disaster to Israel?”

¹⁸He said, “I have not brought disaster to Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because you have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and you have followed the Baals.

¹⁹Now then, send orders and gather to me all Israel at Mount Carmel, together with 450 prophets of Baal and four hundred prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

²⁰So Ahab sent orders among all the sons of Israel and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel.

²¹Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long are you going to struggle with the two choices? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him so much as a word.

²²Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left as a prophet of the LORD, while Baal’s prophets are 450 men.

²³Now have them give us two oxen; and have them choose the one ox for themselves and cut it up, and place it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and 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 replied, “That is a good idea.”

²⁵So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose the one ox 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 the ox.”

²⁶Then they took the ox which was given them and they prepared it, and they called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice and no one answered. And they limped about the altar which they had made.

²⁷And at noon Elijah ridiculed them and said, “Call out with a loud voice, since he is a god; undoubtedly he is attending to business, or is on the way, or is on a journey. Perhaps he is asleep, and will awaken.”

²⁸So they cried out with a loud voice, and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until blood gushed out on them.

²⁹When midday was past, they raved until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice; but there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention.

³⁰Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come forward to me.” So all the people came forward to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD which had been torn down.

³¹Then Elijah took twelve stones, corresponding to 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.”

³²And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trench around the altar, large enough to hold two measures of seed.

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

³⁴And he said, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” And he said, “Do it a second time,” so they did it a second time. Then he said, “Do it a third time,” so they did it a third time.

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

³⁶Then at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached and said, “LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known 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, LORD, answer me, so that this people may know that You, LORD, are God, and that You have turned their heart back.”

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

³⁹When all the people saw this, they fell on their faces; 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.” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slaughtered them there.

⁴¹Now Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower.”

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

⁴³And he said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked, but he said, “There is nothing.” Yet Elijah said, “Go back” seven times.

⁴⁴And when he returned the seventh time, he said, “Behold, a cloud as small as a person’s hand is coming up from the sea.” And Elijah said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Harness your chariot horses and go down, so that the heavy shower does not stop you.’ ”

⁴⁵Meanwhile the sky became dark with clouds and wind came up, and there was a heavy shower. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel.

⁴⁶Then the hand of the LORD was on Elijah, and he belted his cloak around his waist and outran Ahab to Jezreel.

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

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

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

⁴But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree; and he asked for himself to die, and said, “Enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”

⁵Then he lay down and fell asleep under a broom tree; but behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, “Arise, eat!”

⁶And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a round loaf of bread baked on hot coals, and a pitcher of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again.

⁷But the angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him, and said, “Arise, eat; because the journey is too long for you.”

⁸So he arose and ate and drank, and he journeyed in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.

⁹Then he came there to a cave and spent the night there; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁰And he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of armies; for the sons of Israel have abandoned Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they have sought to take 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.

¹²And after the earthquake, a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire, a sound of a gentle blowing.

¹³When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his 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?”

¹⁴Then he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of armies; for the sons of Israel have abandoned Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they have sought to take my life.”

¹⁵The LORD said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; and when you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram.

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

¹⁷And it shall come about that the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death.

¹⁸Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

¹⁹So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat while he was plowing, with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he with the twelfth. And Elijah came over to him and threw his cloak on him.

²⁰Then he left the oxen behind and ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back, for what have I done to you?”

²¹So he returned from following him, and took the pair of oxen and sacrificed them, and cooked their meat with the implements of the oxen, and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he got up and followed Elijah and served him.