The Divided Kingdom

And when it was now time to offer the holocaust, Elias, the prophet, came near and said: O Lord God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel, shew this day that thou art the God of Israel, and I thy servant, and that according to thy commandment I have done all these things.

Dear me, O Lord, hear me: that this people may learn that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart again.

Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.

And when all the people saw this, they fell on their faces, and they said: The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.

And Elias said to them: Take the prophets of Baal, and let not one of them escape. And when they had taken them, Elias brought them down to the torrent Cison, and killed them there.

And Elias said to Achab: Go up, eat and drink: for there is a sound of abundance of rain.

Achab went up to eat and drink: and Elias went up to the top of Carmel, and casting himself down upon the earth, put his face between his knees,

And he said to his servant: Go up, and look towards the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said: There is nothing. And again he said to him: Return seven times.

And at the seventh time: Behold a little cloud arose out of the sea like a man's foot. And he said: Go up, and say to Achab: Prepare thy chariot, and go down, lest the rain prevent thee.

And while he turned himself this way and that way, behold the heavens grew dark, with clouds and wind, and there fell a great rain. And Achab getting up, went away to Jezrahel:

And the hand of the Lord was upon Elias, and he girded up his loins, and ran before Achab, till he came to Jezrahel.

And Achab told Jezabel all that Elias had done, and how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.

And Jezabel sent a messenger to Elias, saying: Such and such things may the gods do to me, and add still more, if by this hour to morrow I make not thy life as the life of one of them.

Then EIias was afraid, and rising up, he went whithersoever he had a mind: and he came to Bersabee of Juda, and left his servant there,

And he went forward, one day's journey into the desert. And when he was there, and sat under a juniper tree, he requested for his soul that he might die, and said: It is enough for me, Lord; take away my soul: for I am no better than my fathers.

And he cast himself down, and slept in the shadow of the juniper tree: and behold an angel of the Lord touched him, and said to him: Arise and eat.

He looked, and behold there was at his head a hearth cake, and a vessel of water: and he ate and drank, and he fell asleep again.

And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said to him: Arise, eat: for thou hast yet a great way to go.

And he arose, and ate and drank, and walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, unto the mount of God, Horeb.

And when he was come thither, he abode in a cave. and behold the word of the Lord came unto him, and he said to him: What dost thou here, Elias?

And he answered: With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant: they have thrown down thy altars, they have slain thy prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it away.

And he said to him: Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord: and behold the Lord passeth, and a great and strong wind before the Lord, overthrowing the mountains, and breaking the rocks in pieces: but the Lord is not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake: but the Lord is not in the earthquake.

And after the earthquake, a fire: but the Lord is not in the fire. And after the fire, a whistling of a gentle air.

And when Elias heard it, he covered his face with his mantle, and coming forth, stood in the entering in of the cave, and behold a voice unto him, saying: What dost thou here, Elias? And he answered:

With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant: they have destroyed thy altars, they have slain thy prophets with the sword; and I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it away.