So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks: and he called to her, and said, "Please get me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink."

As she was going to get it, he called to her, and said, "Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand."

She said, "As Yahweh your God lives, I don't have a cake, but a handful of meal in the jar, and a little oil in the jar. Behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die."

Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go and do as you have said; but make me of it a little cake first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for you and for your son.

She went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, ate [many] days.

It happened after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so severe, that there was no breath left in him.

She said to Elijah, "What have I to do with you, you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!"

He said to her, "Give me your son." He took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the room where he stayed, and laid him on his own bed.

He cried to Yahweh, and said, "Yahweh my God, have you also brought evil on the widow with whom I stay, by killing her son?"

Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the room into the house, and delivered him to his mother; and Elijah said, "Behold, your son lives."

It happened after many days, that the word of Yahweh came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, "Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth."

for it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of Yahweh, that Obadiah took one hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)

So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

As Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, "Is it you, my lord Elijah?"

He answered him, "It is I. Go, tell your lord, 'Behold, Elijah is here!'"

It will happen, as soon as I am gone from you, that the Spirit of Yahweh will carry you I don't know where; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he can't find you, he will kill me. But I, your servant, have feared Yahweh from my youth.

Wasn't it told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of Yahweh, how I hid one hundred men of Yahweh's prophets with fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water?

It happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?"

Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel to Mount Carmel, and four hundred fifty of the prophets of Baal, and four hundred of the prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table."

Let them therefore give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under; and I will dress the other bull, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under it.

You call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of Yahweh. The God who answers by fire, let him be God." All the people answered, "It is well said."

Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one bull for yourselves, and dress it first; for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it."

They took the bull which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any who answered. They leaped about the altar which was made.

It happened at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, "Cry aloud; for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he has gone aside, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he sleeps and must be awakened."

They cried aloud, and cut themselves in their way with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them.

It was so, when midday was past, that they prophesied until the time of the offering of the offering; but there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any who regarded.

He put the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, "Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering, and on the wood."

He said, "Do it a second time;" and they did it the second time. He said, "Do it a third time;" and they did it the third time.

It happened at the time of the offering of the offering, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, "Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.

Then the fire of Yahweh fell, and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.

When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces. They said, "Yahweh, he is God! Yahweh, he is God!"

Elijah said to Ahab, "Get up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain."

So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bowed himself down on the earth, and put his face between his knees.

It happened at the seventh time, that he said, "Behold, a small cloud, like a man's hand, is rising out of the sea." He said, "Go up, tell Ahab, 'Get ready and go down, so that the rain doesn't stop you.'"

It happened in a little while, that the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.

But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, "It is enough. Now, O Yahweh, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers."

He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, "Arise and eat!"

He looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on the coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and laid down again.

The angel of Yahweh came again the second time, and touched him, and said, "Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you."

He arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the Mount of God.

He came there to a cave, and lodged there; and behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, and he said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

He said, "I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away."

He said, "Go out, and stand on the mountain before Yahweh." Behold, Yahweh passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before Yahweh; but Yahweh was not in the wind. After the wind an earthquake; but Yahweh was not in the earthquake.

It was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. Behold, a voice came to him, and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

He said, "I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away."

It shall happen, that he who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and he who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill.

Yet will I leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him."

He left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, "Let me please kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you." He said to him, "Go back again; for what have I done to you?"

He returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, and killed them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave to the people, and they ate. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and served him.

Ben Hadad the king of Syria gathered all his army together; and there were thirty-two kings with him, and horses and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and fought against it.

The king of Israel answered, "It is according to your saying, my lord, O king. I am yours, and all that I have."

but I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, and they shall search your house, and the houses of your servants; and it shall be, that whatever is pleasant in your eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away."'"

Therefore he said to the messengers of Ben Hadad, "Tell my lord the king, 'All that you sent for to your servant at the first I will do; but this thing I cannot do.'" The messengers departed, and brought him back the message.

The king of Israel answered, "Tell him, 'Don't let him who puts on his armor brag like he who takes it off.'"

It happened, when Ben Hadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings, in the pavilions, that he said to his servants, "Prepare to attack!" They prepared to attack the city.

Behold, a prophet came near to Ahab king of Israel, and said, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand this day; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.'"

They went out at noon. But Ben Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings who helped him.

The young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Ben Hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, "Men are coming out from Samaria."

He said, "If they have come out for peace, take them alive; or if they have come out for war, take them alive."

So these went out of the city, the young men of the princes of the provinces, and the army which followed them.

The king of Israel went out, and struck the horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter.

The prophet came near to the king of Israel, and said to him, "Go, strengthen yourself, and mark, and see what you do; for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against you."

Do this thing: take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their place.

It happened at the return of the year, that Ben Hadad mustered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel.

They encamped one over against the other seven days. So it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Israel killed one hundred thousand footmen of the Syrians in one day.

His servants said to him, "See now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please let us put sackcloth on our bodies, and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Israel. Maybe he will save your life."

Now the men observed diligently, and hurried to take this phrase; and they said, "Your brother Ben Hadad." Then he said, "Go, bring him." Then Ben Hadad came out to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot.

As the king passed by, he cried to the king; and he said, "Your servant went out into the midst of the battle; and behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man to me, and said, 'Guard this man! If by any means he be missing, then your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.'

As your servant was busy here and there, he was gone." The king of Israel said to him, "So your judgment shall be; yourself have decided it."

He said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.'"

It happened after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.

Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, "Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near to my house; and I will give you for it a better vineyard than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money."

Ahab came into his house sullen and angry because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he had said, "I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers." He laid himself down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.

But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said to him, "Why is your spirit so sad, that you eat no bread?"

He said to her, "Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite, and said to him, 'Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if it pleases you, I will give you another vineyard for it.' He answered, 'I will not give you my vineyard.'"

Jezebel his wife said to him, "Do you now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let your heart be merry. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."

Set two men, base fellows, before him, and let them testify against him, saying, 'You cursed God and the king!' Then carry him out, and stone him to death."

The men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent to them, according as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them.

The two men, the base fellows, came in and sat before him. The base fellows testified against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, "Naboth cursed God and the king!" Then they carried him out of the city, and stoned him to death with stones.

It happened, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, "Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead."

It happened, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

"Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who dwells in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it.

Behold, I will bring evil on you, and will utterly sweep you away and will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against a wall, and him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel.

Yahweh also spoke of Jezebel, saying, "The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel.

The dogs will eat he who dies of Ahab in the city; and the birds of the sky will eat he who dies in the field."

He did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel.

It happened, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.

It happened in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel.

The king of Israel said to his servants, "You know that Ramoth Gilead is ours, and we are still, and don't take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?"

Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, "Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear?" They said, "Go up; for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king."

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Yahweh, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him; for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." Jehoshaphat said, "Don't let the king say so."

Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them.

All the prophets prophesied so, saying, "Go up to Ramoth Gilead, and prosper; for Yahweh will deliver it into the hand of the king."

Micaiah said, "As Yahweh lives, what Yahweh says to me, that I will speak."

When he had come to the king, the king said to him, "Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall we forbear?" He answered him, "Go up and prosper; and Yahweh will deliver it into the hand of the king."

Yahweh said, 'Who shall entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead?' One said one thing; and another said another.

A spirit came out and stood before Yahweh, and said, 'I will entice him.'

Yahweh said to him, 'How?' He said, 'I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' He said, 'You will entice him, and will also prevail. Go out and do so.'

Micaiah said, "If you return at all in peace, Yahweh has not spoken by me." He said, "Listen, all you people!"

It happened, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, "Surely that is the king of Israel!" and they turned aside to fight against him. Jehoshaphat cried out.