And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and all about how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
And Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “Thus may the gods do, and thus may they add — surely by this time tomorrow I will make your life like the life of one of them.”
And he saw, and he rose and went for his life; and he came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his boy there.
And he himself went into the wilderness a day’s journey, and came and sat under a lone broom tree. And he asked for his life, that he might die, and said: “Enough now, LORD. Take my life — for I am no better than my fathers.”
And he lay down and slept under a lone broom tree — and look, an angel touching him; and he said to him, “Rise, eat.”
And he looked — and look, at his head a cake baked on hot stones, and a jug of water. And he ate and drank, and lay down again.
And the angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him, and said, “Rise, eat — for the way is too much for you.”
And he rose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, to Horeb, the mountain of God.
The LORD Speaks to Elijah at Horeb
And he came there to the cave and spent the night there. And look — the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
And he said: “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts — for the sons of Israel have abandoned your covenant. Your altars they have torn down, and your prophets they have killed with the sword; and I alone am left, and they seek my life, to take it.”
And he said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And look — the LORD passing by: and a great and strong wind, tearing apart mountains and shattering crags before the LORD — the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake — the LORD was not in the earthquake.
And after the earthquake, fire — the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire — a sound of thin silence.
And it was, when Elijah heard, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And look — a voice came to him, and it said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
And he said: “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts — for the sons of Israel have abandoned your covenant. Your altars they have torn down, and your prophets they have killed with the sword; and I alone am left, and they seek my life, to take it.”
And the LORD said to him: “Go, return on your way, to the wilderness of Damascus; and when you come, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.
And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint as king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat, from Abel-meholah, you shall anoint as prophet in your place.
And it shall be: the one who escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will put to death; and the one who escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will put to death.
But I have left in Israel seven thousand — all the knees that have not bowed to the Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
The Call of Elisha
And he went from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, and he was plowing — twelve teams of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. And Elijah crossed over to him and threw his mantle over him.
And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother, please, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go, turn back — for what have I done to you?”
And he turned back from following him, and took the team of oxen and sacrificed them; and with the gear of the oxen he boiled their flesh, and gave it to the people, and they ate. And he rose and followed Elijah, and served him.
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