With them, he built an altar in the name of Yahweh, and he made a trench {which would have held} about two seahs of seed, all around the altar.

He said, "Do [it] again!" They did [it] again. He said, "Do [it] a third time!" So they did [it] a third time.

It happened at the offering of the [evening] oblation, Elijah the prophet went near, and he said, "O Yahweh, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; let it be known today that you [are] God in Israel and [that] I [am] your servant and [that] I have done all of these things by your words.

Answer me, O Yahweh, answer me; that this people may know that you, O Yahweh, [are] God and that you have turned their hearts back again."

Then the fire of Yahweh fell, and it consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust; and the water which [was] in the trench it licked up!

When all the people saw, they fell on their faces and said, "Yahweh, he [is] God! Yahweh, he [is] God!"

It happened that at the seventh time, he said, "Look, there is a small cloud, as [the] hand of a man, coming up from the sea." Then [Elijah] said, "Go up, say to Ahab, 'Harness [your horses] and go down, lest the rain stop you.'"

but the hand of Yahweh was on Elijah; he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab as one comes to Jezreel.

Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "Thus may the gods do [to me], and may they add [to it], surely at this time tomorrow I will make your life as the life of one of them!"

Then he went into the wilderness one day's journey, and he went and sat under a certain broom tree. Then {he asked Yahweh that he might die}, and he said, "It is enough now, Yahweh; take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors."

He lay down and fell asleep under a certain broom tree, and suddenly this angel [was] touching him and said to him, "Get up, eat!"

He looked, and behold, a bread cake on hot coals [was] near his head and a jar of water, so he ate and drank. Then he did it again and lay down.

The angel of Yahweh appeared a second [time] and touched him and said, "Get up, eat, for the journey is greater than you."

He came to the cave there and spent the night there. Suddenly the [word] of Yahweh came to him and asked him, "{Elijah, what are you doing here}?"

Then he said, "I have been very zealous for Yahweh the God of hosts, for the {Israelites} have forsaken your covenant. They have demolished your altars, and they have killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left over, and they seek to take my life.

He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before Yahweh." Suddenly Yahweh was passing by, with a great and strong wind ripping the mountains and crushing rocks before Yahweh; [but] Yahweh [was] not in the wind. After the wind, [there was] an earthquake; [but] Yahweh was not in the earthquake.

After the earthquake [was] a fire, [but] Yahweh was not in the fire. After the fire [there was] the sound of a gentle whisper.

It happened at the moment Elijah heard, he covered his face with his cloak and went out and stood [at] the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice [came] to him and said, "{Elijah, why are you here}?"

He said, "I have been very zealous for Yahweh the God of Hosts, for the {Israelites} have forsaken your covenant, demolished your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword; I alone am left, and they seek to take my life!"

Then Yahweh said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. Go and anoint Hazael as king over Aram;

and Jehu son of Nimshi you shall anoint as king over Israel. You shall also anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-Meholah as prophet in your place.

It shall be that the [one] who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill.

I will leave in Israel seven thousand, all of the knees that have not bowed down to Baal and all of the mouths that have not kissed him."

Then he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, "Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will go after you." Then he said, "Go, return, for what I have done to you?"

So he returned from after him, and he took a pair of oxen and slaughtered them, and with the yoke of the oxen he boiled the flesh and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and served him.

Then the king of Israel answered and said, "As your word, my master the king; I [am] yours, and all that is mine [is yours]."

The messengers returned and said, "Thus says Ben-Hadad, saying, 'I sent to you saying, "Your silver and gold are mine, and your women and your best sons you must give to me."

So [at this] time tomorrow, I will send my servants to you that they might search your house and the houses of your servants. All the desire of your eyes {they will lay hands on} and take it away.'"

Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, "Please know and realize that this [man is] seeking trouble, for he sent to me for my women, my sons, my silver, and my gold, and I did not withhold [anything] from him."

So he said to the messengers of Ben-Hadad, "Say to my lord the king, 'All that you demanded from your servant at the first, I will do, but this thing I am not able to do.'" Then the messengers went and {made a report to him}.

Then Ben-Hadad sent to him and said, "Thus may the gods do to me and thus may they add if the dust of Samaria is sufficient for the hollow of a hand for all of the people who are at my feet."

The king of Israel answered and said, "Tell [him], 'Let not him who girds on his armor boast as one who takes off his armor.'"

Suddenly a certain prophet approached Ahab king of Israel and said, "Thus says Yahweh: 'Have you seen all this great crowd? Behold, I [am] giving it into your hand today, that you may know that I [am] Yahweh.'"

Ahab said, "By whom?" And he said, "Thus says Yahweh: 'By the servants of the commanders of the provinces.'" He asked, "Who will begin the battle?" And he said, "You."

Each man killed his man, and the Arameans fled, so Israel pursued them, but Ben-Hadad king of Aram escaped on a horse with cavalry.

The king of Israel went out and attacked the horses and the chariots and defeated Aram with a great blow.

Then the prophet came near to the king of Israel, and he said to him, "Go, strengthen yourself; {consider well} what you should do, for the king of Aram is coming against you at the turn of the year."

The servants of the king of Aram said to him, "Their gods [are] gods of the mountains, therefore they were stronger than we. Let us fight with them in the plain; surely we will be stronger than they.

Do this thing: remove the kings each from his post, and put a governor in their place.

You must muster an army for yourself as the army {you have lost}, and horses and chariots as the horses and chariots [you lost], then we will fight them in the plain. Surely we will be stronger than they." So he listened to their voice and did so.

Then the man of God approached, and he spoke to the king of Israel, and he said, "Thus says Yahweh: 'Because Aram has said, "Yahweh [is] a god of the mountains and not a god of the valleys," ' I will give all this great crowd into your hand that you may know that I [am] Yahweh."

Then those who remained fled to Aphek, to the city, and the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand men who had remained, so Ben-Hadad fled and went to the innermost rooms of the city.

Then his servants said to him, "Please now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are kings of mercy. Let us now put sackcloth on around our waists and ropes on our heads. Then let us go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps {he will let you live}."

The men took this as a good omen and they quickly accepted [it] as true from him, and they said, "Your brother Ben-Hadad [lives]." So he said, "Go, get him." Ben-Hadad came out to him, and [Ahab] pulled him up on the chariot.

[Ben-Hadad] said to him, "The cities which my father took from your father I shall return. You may set up streets with stalls for yourself in Damascus just as my father set up in Samaria." [Then Ahab said], "{On these terms} I will let you go," So he made a covenant with him and let him go.

A certain man from the sons of the prophets said to his fellow countryman, "By the word of Yahweh, please strike me." But the man refused to strike him.

He said to him, "Because you have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh, look, as you now are going from me, a lion will kill you." When he went from beside him, the lion found him and killed him.

Then the prophet went and {waited} for the king along the road and disguised himself with a headband over his eyes.

As the king [was] passing by, he called to the king and said, "Your servant went out in the thick of the battle, and suddenly a man turned and brought a man to me and said, 'Guard this man. If by any means he should be missed, it will be your life in his place, or you shall pay a talent of silver.'

He said to him, "Thus says Yahweh: 'Because you have let the man I devoted for destruction go from [your] hand, your life shall be in place of his life and your people in place of his people.'"

It happened after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which [was] in Jezreel beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.

Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, "Give me your vineyard that it may be mine for a garden of vegetable plants, because it is near, beside my house, and I will give to you a better vineyard in place of it. If it is better in your eyes, I will give you the money of its price."

Naboth said to Ahab, "Far be it from me from Yahweh that I should give the inheritance of my ancestors to you."

Then Ahab went to his house, sullen and angry because of the word that Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him [when] he had said, "I will not give to you the inheritance of my ancestors." So he lay on his bed, turned away his face, and would not eat [any] food.

Then Jezebel his wife came to him, and she said to him, "What is this, that your spirit is sullen and you are not eating food?"

Then he said to her, "When I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and asked him, 'Give me your vineyard for money, or it you prefer, I will give you a vineyard in place of it,' he said, 'I will not give you my vineyard.'"

Jezebel his wife said to him, "Now, you {rule} over Israel. Get up, eat food, and let your heart be {cheerful}. I myself will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."

So she wrote letters in the name of Ahab and sealed them with his seal. She sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who [were] dwelling with Naboth in his city.

She had written in the letters, saying, "Call a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people.

Seat two men, {scoundrels}, opposite him. Let them witness against him saying, 'You cursed God and the king.' Then you shall bring him out and stone him so that he dies."

The men of his city and the elders and nobles who were living in his city did according to what Jezebel had sent to them, as [was] written in the letters which she had sent to them.

They called a fast, and they seated Naboth at the head of the people.

It happened at the moment Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and died, Jezebel said to Ahab, "Get up, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite which he had refused to give to you for money, for Naboth is not alive, but dead."

The word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

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

You shall say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh: "Have you committed murder and also taken possession?" ' You shall also say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh: "In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs will also lick your blood." '"

Then Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, my enemy?" He said, "I have found you because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

'Look, I [am] bringing disaster on you, and I will sweep away after you. I will cut off for Ahab {every male} in Israel, bond or free.

I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, {because you made me angry} and have caused Israel to sin.'

Moreover, concerning Jezebel, Yahweh has said, 'The dogs will eat Jezebel in the outer rampart of Jezreel.'

The one who dies for Ahab in the city, the dogs will eat; the one who dies in the open country, the birds of heaven will eat."

Truly, there was no one like Ahab who had sold himself by doing evil in the eyes of Yahweh, whose wife Jezebel urged him on.

Also, he acted very abominably by going after idols like all the Amorites had done whom Yahweh had driven out from before the {Israelites}."

Then the word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

"Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring disaster in his days. I will bring the disaster on his house in the days of his son."

and the king of Israel said to his servants, "Do you know Ramoth-Gilead belongs to us, and we [are] doing nothing about taking it from the hand of the king of Aram?"

Then he said to Jehoshaphat, "Will you go with me to the battle for Ramoth-Gilead?" Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "{I am like you}; {my people are like your people}; {my horses are like your horses}."

Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, "Please inquire for the word of Yahweh today."

Then the king of Israel assembled the prophets, about four hundred men, and he said to them, "Shall I go against Ramoth-Gilead for the battle, or should I refrain?" Then they said, "Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king."

So Jehoshaphat said, "Is there no prophet of Yahweh here that we might still inquire from him?"

Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "[There is] still one man to inquire from Yahweh, but I despise him, for he never prophesies [anything] good concerning me, but only bad: Micaiah the son of Imlah." Then Jehoshaphat said, "The king should not say so."

The king of Israel summoned a certain court official, and he said, "Quickly fetch Micaiah son of Imlah."

Zedekiah son of Kenaanah made horns of iron for himself and said, "Thus says Yahweh: 'With these you shall gore the Arameans until finishing them.'"

All of the prophets [were] likewise prophesying, saying, "Go up [to] Ramoth-Gilead and triumph, and Yahweh will give it into the hand of the king."

Then the messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, "Please now, the words of the prophet are {unanimously} favorable to the king. Please let your words be as one word with them, and speak favorably."

Then Micaiah said, "{As Yahweh lives}, surely only as Yahweh speaks to me, that will I speak."

When he came to the king, the king asked him, "Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-Gilead to the battle, or shall we refrain?" He said to him, "Go up and triumph, and Yahweh will give [it] into the hand of the king."

Then the king said to him, "How many times must I make you swear that you shall not tell me [anything] but truth in the name of Yahweh?"

So he said, "I saw all of Israel scattering to the mountains, like the sheep without a shepherd. Yahweh also said, 'There are no masters for these, let them return in peace, each to his house.'"

Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Did I not say to you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but disaster?"

And he said, "Therefore, hear the word of Yahweh. I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne with all the hosts of heaven standing beside him from his right hand and from his left [hand].

And Yahweh said, 'Who will entice Ahab so that he will go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead?' Then {this one was saying one thing and the other one was saying another}.

Then a spirit came out and stood before Yahweh and said, 'I will entice him,' and Yahweh said to him, 'How?'

He said, 'I will go out and I will be a false spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And he said, 'You shall entice and succeed, go out and do so.'

So then, see that Yahweh has placed a false spirit in the mouth of all of these your prophets, and Yahweh has spoken disaster concerning you."

Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah came near and slapped Micaiah on the cheek and said, "When did the Spirit of Yahweh pass from me to speak with you?"

Then Micaiah said, "Behold, you [are about to] see on that day when you go {from room to room} to hide."

and say, 'Thus says the king: "Put this [fellow in] the house of imprisonment and feed him reduced rations of food and water until I come in peace." '"

Then Micaiah said, "If you indeed return in peace, then Yahweh has not spoken with me." Then he said, "Let all the peoples hear!"

Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "[I will] disguise myself and go into the battle, but you wear your robes." So the king of Israel disguised himself, and he went into the battle.