1 Kings 18
1AND after many days, a word of the Lord came to Elias in the third year, saying, Go and shew thyself to Achab and I will send rain on the face of the land.
2Now when Elias went to shew himself to Achab there was a grievous famine in Samaria.
3And Achab had called his steward Abdiou. This Abdiou feared the Lord greatly;
4so that when Jezabel smote the prophets of the Lord, Abdiou took a hundred men who were prophets, and hid them by fifties in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.
5And Achab said to Abdiou, Come and let us go through the land to the fountains of water and to the brooks, perhaps we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that they may not be utterly destroyed from our habitations.
6So they divided the way between them, that they might traverse the country. Achab went one way, and Abdiou went by himself another way.
7And as Abdiou was in the way by himself Elias came by himself to meet him. Whereupon Abdiou hasted and fell on his face and said, Art thou he, my lord Elias?
8And Elias said, I am, Go and tell thy master, Behold Elias is here.
9And Abdiou said, In what have I sinned that thou shouldst deliver thy servant into the hand of Achab, that he may put me to death?
10As the Lord thy God liveth, there is not a nation or a kingdom to which my master hath not sent to seek thee. And if they said, He is not here, he burned the kingdom or its borders, because he did not find thee.
11And now thou sayst, Go tell thy master, Behold Elias is here.
12But it may be, that when I am gone from thee, the Spirit of the Lord will carry thee away to a land which I know not. So that when I shall go and tell Achab, and he shall not find thee, he will kill me. Now thy servant is one who feareth the Lord from his youth.
13Hath it not been told thee, my lord, what I did when Jezabel slew the prophets of the Lord—how I hid a hundred men of the prophets of the Lord by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
14Yet, now thou sayst, Go, tell thy master, Behold Elias is here, that he may kill me.
15And Elias said, As the Lord of Hosts liveth, before Whom I stand, I will this day shew myself to him.
16Then Abdiou went to meet Achab, and when he told him, Achab hastened and came to meet Elias.
17And when Achab saw Elias,
18he said to him, Art thou he, the troubler of Israel? To which Elias replied, I am not the troubler of Israel; but thou and thy father’s house are, by your forsaking the Lord your God and going after the Baalims.
19Now therefore send and gather to me all Israel to mount Carmel, and the prophets of shame, four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the bowers four hundred, who eat at Jezabel’s table.
20And when Achab had sent to all Israel, and had assembled all the prophets at mount Carmel,
21Elias came near before them all, and Elias said to them, How long will you halt between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him: but if Baal; follow him. But the people made no reply.
22Then Elias said to the people, I am left a prophet of the Lord myself alone. But the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty men, and the prophets of the Grove [of Baal] four hundred.
23Let there be given to us two young bulls, and let them choose one for themselves, and cut him in pieces, and lay them on wood, but put no fire; and I will prepare the other and put no fire.
24And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will invoke the name of the Lord my God. And the god who shall answer by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, The proposal thou hast made is fair.
25Then Elias said to the prophets of shame, Choose for yourselves one young bull and prepare it first; for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire to it.
26So they took the young bull, and prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning till noon, and said, Hearken to us, O Baal! Hearken to us. But there was no voice. There was no answer; though they ran upon the altar which they had erected.
27And when it was noon, Elias the Thesbite mocked them, and said, Call louder; for he is a god; for he is engaged in meditation, or perhaps he is busy, or perhaps he is asleep, and must be awaked.
28Then they called with a loud voice, and according to their custom cut themselves with knives and lancets till there was a gush of blood upon them,
29and prophesied till the approach of the evening. But when it was about the time when the sacrifice should ascend, Elias the Thesbite spoke to the prophets of the idols, and said, Desist now, and I will prepare my whole burnt offering. So they desisted, and went away.
30Then Elias said to the people, Draw near to me. And when all the people came near before him,
31Elias took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of Israel, to whom the Lord had spoken, saying, Thy name shall be Israel;
32and he built the stones in the name of the Lord, and repaired the altar which had been thrown down. Then he made a trench around the altar sufficient to contain two measures of seed,
33and piled up the split wood upon the altar which he had made. He then divided the whole burnt offering in quarters, and laid it on the split wood. And when he had laid it in order upon the altar, he said, Bring me four pots of water and pour it on the whole burnt offering and on the split wood.
34And when they had done so, he said, Do the same again. And when they had done this a second time, he said, Do it a third time. So they did it a third time,
35and the water ran down about the altar and filled the trench with water.
36Then Elias raised his voice to heaven and said, O Lord, the God of Abraham and of Isaak and of Israel, hearken to me! O Lord, hearken to me this day by fire, And let all this people know, that Thou art the Lord God of Israel, and that I am Thy servant, and that by Thee I have done these works.
37Hearken to me, O Lord! Hearken to me; and let this people know, that Thou art the Lord God, and that Thou hast turned the heart of this people back again.
38Thereupon fire from the Lord fell down out of heaven and consumed the whole burnt offering, with the split wood and the water in the trench and the stones, and licked up even the dust.
39Then all the people fell on their faces and said, Of a truth the Lord is God. He is very God.
40Then Elias said to the people, Seize the prophets of Baal. Let none of them escape. So they seized them and brought them to Elias, down to the brook Kison and slew them there.
41Then Elias said to Achab, Go up and eat and drink, for there is a sound of coming rain.
42So when Achab went up to eat and drink, Elias went up to the top of Carmel, and having bowed down on the earth, he put his face between his knees and
43said to his servant, Go up and look towards the sea. And when the servant looked and said, There is nothing, Elias said, Return thou again seven times.
44So the servant returned seven times, and at the seventh time he said, Behold there is a little cloud like a man’s foot drawing up water. Whereupon he said, Go up and say to Achab, Prepare thy chariot and go down lest the rain overtake thee.
45In the meanwhile the heaven gradually darkened with clouds and wind, and there came on a great rain. And while Achab wept and was travelling on to Jezrael,
46the hand of the Lord was upon Elias and having girded up his loins, he ran before Achab to Jezrael.