1 Kings 18

¹ And the days are many, and the word of Yahweh has been unto Elijah in the third year, saying, "Go, appear unto Ahab, and I give rain on the face of the ground"; ² and Elijah goes to appear unto Ahab. And the famine is severe in Samaria, ³ and Ahab calls unto Obadiah, who [is] over the house - and Obadiah has been fearing Yahweh greatly, ⁴ and it comes to pass, in Jezebel's cutting off the prophets of Yahweh, that Obadiah takes a hundred prophets, and hides them, fifty men in a cave, and has sustained them with bread and water - ⁵ and Ahab said unto Obadiah, "Go through the land, unto all fountains of waters, and unto all the brooks, if so be we find hay, and keep alive horse and mule, and do not cut off any of the cattle." ⁶ And they apportion to themselves the land, to pass over into it; Ahab has gone in one way by himself, and Obadiah has gone in another way by himself; ⁷ and Obadiah [is] in the way, and lo, Elijah - to meet him; and he discerns him, and falls on his face, and said, "Are you he - my lord Elijah?" ⁸ And he said to him, "I [am]; go, say to your lord, Lo, Elijah." ⁹ And he said, "What have I sinned, that you are giving your servant into the hand of Ahab - to put me to death? ¹⁰ Yahweh your Elohim lives, if there is a nation and kingdom whither my lord has not sent to seek you; and they said, He is not, then he caused the kingdom and the nation to swear, that it does not find you; ¹¹ and now, you are saying, Go, say to your lord, Lo, Elijah; ¹² and it has been, I go from you, and the Spirit of Yahweh does lift you up, whither I know not, and I have come to declare to Ahab, and he does not find you, and he has slain me; and your servant is fearing Yahweh from my youth. ¹³ Has it not been declared to my lord that which I have done in Jezebel's slaying the prophets of Yahweh, that I hide of the prophets of Yahweh a hundred men, fifty by fifty in a cave, and sustained them with bread and water? ¹⁴ and now you are saying, Go, say to my lord, Lo, Elijah - and he has slain me!" ¹⁵ And Elijah said, "Yahweh of Hosts lives, before whom I have stood, surely to-day I appear unto him." ¹⁶ And Obadiah goes to meet Ahab, and declares [it] to him, and Ahab goes to meet Elijah, ¹⁷ and it comes to pass at Ahab's seeing Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, "Are you he - the troubler of Israel?" ¹⁸ And he said, "I have not troubled Israel, but you and the house of your father, in your forsaking the commands of Yahweh, and you go after the Baalim; ¹⁹ and now, send, gather unto me all Israel, unto the mount of Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the shrine, four hundred - eating at the table of Jezebel." ²⁰ And Ahab sends among all the sons of Israel, and gathers the prophets unto the mount of Carmel; ²¹ and Elijah comes nigh unto all the people, and said, "Till when are you leaping on the two branches? - if Yahweh [is] Elohim, go after Him; and if Baal, go after him"; and the people have not answered him a word. ²² And Elijah said unto the people, "I - I have been left a prophet of Yahweh - by myself; and the prophets of Baal [are] four hundred and fifty men; ²³ and let them give to us two bullocks, and they choose for themselves the one bullock, and cut it in pieces, and place [it] on the wood, and place no fire; and I - I prepare the other bullock, and have put [it] on the wood, and fire I do not place; - ²⁴ and you have called in the name of your elohim, and I - I call in the name of Yahweh, and it has been, the elohim who answers by fire - He [is] the Elohim". And all the people answer and say, "Good [is] the word." ²⁵ And Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose for you the one bullock, and prepare first, for you [are] the multitude, and call you in the name of your elohim, and place no fire." ²⁶ And they take the bullock that [one] gave to them, and prepare, and call in the name of Baal from the morning even till the noon, saying, "O Baal, answer us!" and there is no voice, and there is none answering; and they leap on the altar that one had made. ²⁷ And it comes to pass, at noon, that Elijah plays on them, and said, "Call with a loud voice, for he [is] an elohim, for he is meditating, or pursuing, or on a journey; it may be he is asleep, an does awake." ²⁸ And they call with a loud voice, and cut themselves, according to their ordinance, with swords and with spears, till a flowing of blood [is] on them; ²⁹ and it comes to pass, at the passing by of the noon, that they feign themselves prophets till the going up of the present, and there is no voice, and there is none answering, and there is none attending. ³⁰ And Elijah said to all the people, "Come nigh unto me"; and all the people come nigh unto him, and he repairs the altar of Yahweh that is broken down; ³¹ and Elijah takes twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of Yahweh was, saying, "Israel is your name"; ³² and he builds with the stones an altar, in the name of Yahweh, and makes a trench, as about the space of two measures of seed, round about the altar. ³³ And he arranges the wood, and cuts in pieces the bullock, and places [it] on the wood, and said, "Fill you four pitchers of water, and pour on the burnt-offering, and on the wood"; ³⁴ and he said, "Do [it] a second time"; and they do [it] a second time; and he said, "Do [it] a third time"; and they do [it] a third time; ³⁵ and the water goes round about the altar, and also, the trench he has filled with water. ³⁶ And it comes to pass, at the going up of the [evening] present, that Elijah the prophet comes nigh and said, "Yahweh, Elohim of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to-day let it be known that You [are] Elohim in Israel, and I Your servant, that by Your word I have done the whole of these things; ³⁷ answer me, O Yahweh, answer me, and this people does know that You [are] Yahweh Elohim; and You have turned their heart backward." ³⁸ And there falls a fire of Yahweh, and consumes the burnt-offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and the water that [is] in the trench it has licked up. ³⁹ And all the people see, and fall on their faces, and say, "Yahweh, He [is] the Elohim, Yahweh, He [is] the Elohim." ⁴⁰ And Elijah said to them, "Catch you the prophets of Baal; let not a man escape of them"; and they catch them, and Elijah brings them down unto the stream Kishon, and does slaughter them there. ⁴¹ And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink, because of the sound of the noise of the shower." ⁴² And Ahab goes up to eat, and to drink, and Elijah has gone up unto the top of Carmel, and he stretches himself out on the earth, and he places his face between his knees, ⁴³ and said unto his young man, "Go up, I pray you, look attentively the way of the sea"; and he goes up and looks attentively, and said, "There is nothing"; and he said, "Turn back", seven times. ⁴⁴ And it comes to pass, at the seventh, that he said, "Lo, a little thickness as the palm of a man is coming up out of the sea." And he said, "Go up, say unto Ahab, Bind - and go down, and the shower does not restrain you." ⁴⁵ And it comes to pass, in the meantime, that the heavens have become black - thick clouds and wind - and the shower is great; and Ahab rides, and goes to Jezreel, ⁴⁶ and the hand of Yahweh has been on Elijah, and he girds up his loins, and runs before Ahab, till your entering Jezreel.