And it was many days later that the word of the LORD came to Elijah, in the third year, saying: “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will give rain on the face of the ground.”
And Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. And the famine was severe in Samaria.
And Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly;
and it was, when Jezebel was cutting off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them, fifty men to a cave, and provided them with bread and water.
And Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land, to all the springs of water and to all the brooks. Perhaps we will find grass, and keep horse and mule alive, and not have to cut off any of the animals.”
And they divided the land between them, to pass through it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.
And Obadiah was on the way — and look, Elijah to meet him. And he recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, “Is that you, my lord Elijah?”
And he said to him, “It is I. Go, say to your lord: ‘Look — Elijah.’”
And he said: “How have I sinned, that you are giving your servant into the hand of Ahab, to put me to death?
As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you; and when they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made the kingdom and the nation swear that they had not found you.
And now you say, ‘Go, say to your lord: Look — Elijah.’
And it will be, when I go from you, that the spirit of the LORD will carry you off to I know not where; and I will come to tell Ahab, and he will not find you, and he will kill me. And your servant has feared the LORD from my youth.
Was it not told to my lord what I did when Jezebel was killing the prophets of the LORD — how I hid a hundred men of the prophets of the LORD, fifty by fifty in a cave, and provided them with bread and water?
And now you say, ‘Go, say to your lord: Look — Elijah.’ And he will kill me!”
And Elijah said, “As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand — surely today I will show myself to him.”
Elijah on Mount Carmel
And Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah.
And it was, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”
And he said: “I have not troubled Israel — but you, and your father’s house, by your abandoning the commandments of the LORD, and you have gone after the Baals.
Now then, send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel — and the prophets of the Baal, four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the Asherah, four hundred, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
And Ahab sent among all the sons of Israel, and gathered the prophets to Mount Carmel.
And Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you keep limping on the two branches? If the LORD is God, follow him; and if the Baal, follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word.
And Elijah said to the people: “I alone am left a prophet of the LORD, and the prophets of the Baal are four hundred and fifty men.
Let them give us two bulls; and let them choose the one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and set it on the wood, but put no fire to it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire to it.
And you shall call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and it shall be, the God who answers by fire — he is God.” And all the people answered and said, “The word is good.”
And Elijah said to the prophets of the Baal: “Choose the one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are the many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire to it.”
And they took the bull that was given them and prepared it, and they called on the name of the Baal from the morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answering. And they limped around the altar that had been made.
And it was at noon that Elijah mocked them and said: “Call with a great voice — for he is a god! For he is deep in thought; or he has stepped aside; or he is on a journey. Perhaps he is sleeping, and will wake up.”
And they called with a great voice, and cut themselves according to their custom, with swords and with spears, until blood poured out over them.
And it was, as noon passed, that they prophesied until the offering up of the grain offering — and there was no voice, and no one answering, and no attention.
And Elijah said to all the people, “Approach me.” And all the people approached him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that had been torn down.
And Elijah took twelve stones, according 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” —
and 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 seahs of seed.
And he arranged the wood, and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.”
And he said, “Do it a second time.” And they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time.” And they did it a third time.
And the water went around the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.
Elijah’s Prayer
And it was, at the offering up of the grain offering, that 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 by your word I have done all these things.
Answer me, LORD — answer me, so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you have turned their heart back again.”
And the fire of the LORD fell and devoured the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust; and the water that was in the trench it licked up.
And all the people saw, and they fell on their faces, and they said, “The LORD — he is God! The LORD — he is God!”
And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of the Baal; let not a man of them escape.” And they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slaughtered them there.
The LORD Sends Rain
And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink — for there is the sound of the rumble of rain.”
And Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and crouched down to the earth, and put his face between his knees.
And he said to his boy, “Go up, please — look toward the sea.” And he went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” And he said, “Go back,” seven times.
And it was at the seventh time that he said, “Look — a small cloud like a man’s palm, rising from the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab: ‘Harness, and go down, so that the rain does not stop you.’”
And it was, in a little while, that the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode off and went to Jezreel.
And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his waist, and ran before Ahab all the way to Jezreel.
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