The Divided Kingdom

Then, when it came time for offering the evening offering, Eliyahu the prophet approached and said, "ADONAI, God of Avraham, Yitz'chak and Isra'el, let it be known today that you are God in Isra'el, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.

Hear me, ADONAI, hear me, so that this people may know that you, ADONAI, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back to you."

Then the fire of ADONAI fell. It consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones and the dust; and it licked up the water in the trench.

When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, "ADONAI is God! ADONAI is God!"

Eliyahu said to them, "Seize the prophets of Ba'al! Don't let one of them escape!" They seized them; and Eliyahu brought them down to Vadi Kishon and killed them there.

Then Eliyahu said to Ach'av, "Get up, eat, and drink, because I hear the sound of heavy rain."

Ach'av went up to eat and drink, while Eliyahu went up to the top of the Karmel. He bowed down to the ground and put his face between his knees.

"Now," he said to his servant, "go up, and look out toward the sea." He went up, looked, and said, "There's nothing there." Seven times he said, "Go again."

The seventh time, the servant said, "Now there's a cloud coming up out of the sea, no bigger than a man's hand." Eliyahu said, "Go up, and say to Ach'av, 'Prepare your chariot, and get down the mountain before the rain stops you!"

A little later, the sky grew black with clouds and wind; and heavy rain began falling; as Ach'av, riding in his chariot, made for Yizre'el.

The hand of ADONAI was on Eliyahu; he tucked up his clothing and ran ahead of Ach'av to the entrance of Yizre'el.

Ach'av told Izevel everything Eliyahu had done and how he had put all the prophets to the sword.

Then Izevel sent a messenger to say to Eliyahu, "May the gods do terrible things to me and worse ones besides if by this time tomorrow I haven't taken your life, just as you took theirs!"

On seeing that, he got up and fled for his life. When he arrived in Be'er-Sheva, in Y'hudah, he left his servant there;

but he himself went a day farther into the desert, until he came to a broom tree. He sat down under it and prayed for his own death. "Enough!" he said. "Now, ADONAI, take my life. I'm no better than my ancestors."

Then he lay down under the broom tree and went to sleep. Suddenly, an angel touched him and said to him, "Get up and eat!"

He looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on the hot stones and a jug of water. He ate and drank, then lay down again.

The angel came again, a second time, touched him and said, "Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you."

He got up, ate and drank, and, on the strength of that meal, traveled forty days and nights until he reached Horev the mountain of God.

There he went into a cave and spent the night. Then the word of ADONAI came to him; he said to him, "What are you doing here, Eliyahu?"

He answered, "I have been very zealous for ADONAI the God of armies, because the people of Isra'el have abandoned your covenant, broken down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. Now I'm the only one left, and they're coming after me to kill me too."

He said, "Go outside, and stand on the mountain before ADONAI"; and right then and there, ADONAI went past. A mighty blast of wind tore the mountains apart and broke the rocks in pieces before ADONAI, but ADONAI was not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake, but ADONAI was not in the earthquake.

After the earthquake, fire broke out; but ADONAI was not in the fire. And after the fire came a quiet, subdued voice.

When Eliyahu heard it, he covered his face with his cloak, stepped out and stood at the entrance to the cave. Then a voice came to him and said, "What are you doing here, Eliyahu?"

He answered, "I have been very zealous for ADONAI the God of armies; because the people of Isra'el have abandoned your covenant, broken down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. Now I'm the only one left, and they're after me to kill me too."