1   Time went by, and in the third year the word of the Lord came to Elijah: ‘Go and show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the land.’ 2   So he went to show himself to Ahab. At this time the famine in Samaria was at its height, 3   and Ahab summoned Obadiah, the comptroller of his household, a devout worshipper of the Lord. 4   When Jezebel massacred the prophets of the Lord, he had taken a hundred of them and hidden them in caves, fifty by fifty, giving them food and drink to keep them alive. 5   Ahab said to Obadiah, ‘Let us go through ^note the land, both of us, to every spring and gully; if we can find enough grass we may keep the horses and mules alive and lose none of our cattle.’ 6   They divided the land between them for their survey, Ahab going one way by himself and Obadiah another.

7   As Obadiah was on his way, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him and fell prostrate before him and said, ‘Can it be you, my lord Elijah?’ 8   ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘it is I; go and tell your master that Elijah is here.’ 9   ‘What wrong have I done?’ said Obadiah. ‘Why should you give me into Ahab's hands? 10   He will put me to death. As the Lord your

Ahab and Elijah God lives, there is no nation or kingdom to which my master has not sent in search of you. If they said, “He is not here”, he made that kingdom or nation swear on oath that they could not find you. 11   Yet now you say, “Go and tell your master that Elijah is here.” 12   What will happen? As soon as I leave you, the spirit of the Lord will carry you away, who knows where? I shall go and tell Ahab, and when he fails to find you, he will kill me. Yet I have been a worshipper of the Lord from boyhood. 13   Have you not been told, my lord, what I did when Jezebel put the Lord's prophets to death, how I hid a hundred of them in caves, fifty by fifty, and kept them alive with food and drink? 14   And now you say, “Go and tell your master that Elijah is here”! He will kill me.’ 15   Elijah answered, ‘As the Lord of Hosts lives, whose servant I am, I swear that I will show myself to him this very day.’ 16   So Obadiah went to find Ahab and gave him the message, and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

17   As soon as Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, ‘Is it you, you troubler of Israel?’ 18   ‘It is not I who have troubled Israel,’ he replied, ‘but you and your father's family, by forsaking the commandments of the Lord and following Baal. 19   But now, send and summon all Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel, and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal with them and the four hundred prophets of the goddess Asherah, who are Jezebel's pensioners.’ ^note 20   So Ahab sent out to all the Israelites and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21   Elijah stepped forward and said to the people, ‘How long will you sit on the fence ^note? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.’ Not a word did they answer. 22   Then Elijah said to the people, ‘I am the only prophet of the Lord still left, but there are four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. 23   Bring two bulls; let them choose one for themselves, cut it up and lay it on the wood without setting fire to it, and I will prepare the other and lay it on the wood without setting fire to it. 24   You shall invoke your god by name and I will invoke the Lord by name; and the god who answers by fire, he is God.’ And all the people shouted their approval.

25   Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose one of the bulls and offer it first, for there are more of you; invoke your god by name, but do not set fire to the wood.’ 26   So they took the bull provided for them and offered it, and they invoked Baal by name from morning until noon, crying, ‘Baal, Baal, answer us’; but there was no sound, no answer. 27   They danced wildly beside the altar they had set up. At midday Elijah mocked them: ‘Call louder, for he is a god; it may be he is deep in thought, or engaged, or on a journey; or he may have gone to sleep and must be woken up.’ 28   They cried still louder and, as was their custom, gashed themselves with swords and spears until the blood ran.

Ahab and Elijah 29   All afternoon they raved and ranted till the hour of the regular sacrifice, but still there was no sound, no answer, no sign of attention.

30   Then Elijah said to all the people, ‘Come here to me.’ They all came, and he repaired the altar of the Lord which had been torn down. 31   He took twelve stones, one for each tribe of the sons of Jacob, the man named Israel by the word of the Lord. 32   With these stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord; he dug a trench round it big enough to hold two measures ^note of seed; 33   he arranged the wood, cut up the bull and laid it on the wood. 34   Then he said, ‘Fill four jars with water and pour it on the whole-offering and on the wood.’ They did so, ^note and he said, ‘Do it again.’ They did it again, and he said, ‘Do it a third time.’ 35   They did it a third time, and the water ran all round the altar and even filled the trench. 36   At the hour of the regular sacrifice the prophet Elijah came forward and said, ‘Lord God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known today that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy servant and have done all these things at thy command. 37   Answer me, O Lord, answer me and let this people know that thou, Lord, art God and that it is thou that hast caused them to be backsliders.’ ^note 38   Then the fire of the Lord fell. It consumed the whole-offering, the wood, the stones, and the earth, and licked up the water in the trench. 39   When all the people saw it, they fell prostrate and cried, ‘The Lord is God, the Lord is God.’ 40   Then Elijah said to them, ‘Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.’ They seized them, and Elijah took them down to the Kishon and slaughtered them there in the valley.

41   Elijah said to Ahab, ‘Go back now, eat and drink, for I hear the sound of coming rain.’ 42   He did so, while Elijah himself climbed to the crest of Carmel. There he crouched on the ground with his face between his knees. 43   He said to his servant, ‘Go and look out to the west.’ He went and looked; ‘There is nothing to see’, he said. Seven times Elijah ordered him back, and seven times he went. ^note 44   The seventh time he said, ‘I see a cloud no bigger than a man's hand, coming up from the west.’ ‘Now go’, said Elijah, ‘and tell Ahab to harness his chariot and be off, or the rain will stop him.’ 45   Meanwhile the sky had grown black with clouds, the wind rose, and heavy rain began to fall. 46   Ahab mounted his chariot and set off for Jezreel; but the power of the Lord had come upon Elijah: he tucked up his robe and ran before Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

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