Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Ahab » King of israel » Reproved by elijah; assembles the prophets of baal
When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab asked him, "Is it really you, you destroyer of Israel?" But Elijah replied, "I'm no destroyer of Israel. But you and your ancestor's household have been doing that, because you have abandoned the LORD's commandments and have followed the Baals. So go gather all of Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. Bring along 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah who are funded at Jezebel's expense." read more.
Ahab sent for the Israelis and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel, where Elijah approached all the people and asked them, "How long will you keep hesitating between both sides? If the LORD is God, go after him. If Baal, go after him." But the people didn't say a word. So Elijah told the people, "I'm the only one left over as a prophet of the LORD, am I? But Baal's prophets number 450 men? So let them provide two oxen. They can choose one ox for themselves. Cut it up, lay it on top of some wood, but don't set fire to it. I will prepare the other ox and lay it on top of some wood, and I won't set fire to it. Then you can call on the name of your god, and I'll call on the name of the LORD. Let the God who answers by fire be our God!" "That's a good idea!" all the people shouted. So Elijah told the prophets of Baal, "Choose an ox for yourselves and you prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but don't set fire to the offering." So they took the ox that was given to them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from early morning until noon. "Baal! Answer us!" they cried. But there was no response. Nobody answered. So they kept on dancing around the altar that they had made. Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them: "Shout louder! "He's a god, so maybe he's busy. "Maybe he's relieving himself. "Maybe he's busy someplace. "Maybe he's taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up." So the prophets of Baal cried even louder and slashed themselves with swords and lances until their blood gushed out all over them, as was their custom. They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention. Eventually, Elijah told everybody, "Come here!" So everybody approached him, and he repaired the LORD's altar that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob's descendants, to whom the message from the LORD had come that "Israel is to be your name." So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the LORD. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he laid the wood in order, cut the bull into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood. "Fill four pitchers with water," he ordered. "Then pour them out on the burnt offering and the wood." "Do it a second time," he ordered. So they did it a second time. "Do it a third time," he said. So they did it a third time. The water ran down around the altar and completely filled the trench. As the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again." Right then the LORD's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench! When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!" But Elijah said, "Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don't let even one of them get away." So the people seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and executed them there. After this, Elijah told Ahab, "Get up and have something to eat and drink, because there's the sound of a coming rainstorm." So Ahab got up to get something to eat and drink while Elijah went back up to the top of Mount Carmel, where he bowed low to the ground and placed his face between his knees. Then he told his young servant, "Go and look toward the sea." So he went and looked out to sea. "Nothing there," he said. But Elijah told him to go back seven times. On the seventh look, he said, "Look! There's a cloud, a small one, about the size of a man's hand. It's coming up out of the sea!" "Get up and find Ahab!" Elijah said. "Tell him, "Mount your chariot and ride down the mountain so the storm doesn't stop you.'" A little while later, the sky turned black with storm clouds and winds, and there was a heavy shower. So Ahab rode off to Jezreel. After Ahab had left, the hand of the LORD came upon Elijah, and he tucked his mantle into his belt and outran Ahab in a race to the city gate of Jezreel.
Ahab sent for the Israelis and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel, where Elijah approached all the people and asked them, "How long will you keep hesitating between both sides? If the LORD is God, go after him. If Baal, go after him." But the people didn't say a word. So Elijah told the people, "I'm the only one left over as a prophet of the LORD, am I? But Baal's prophets number 450 men? So let them provide two oxen. They can choose one ox for themselves. Cut it up, lay it on top of some wood, but don't set fire to it. I will prepare the other ox and lay it on top of some wood, and I won't set fire to it. Then you can call on the name of your god, and I'll call on the name of the LORD. Let the God who answers by fire be our God!" "That's a good idea!" all the people shouted. So Elijah told the prophets of Baal, "Choose an ox for yourselves and you prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but don't set fire to the offering." So they took the ox that was given to them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from early morning until noon. "Baal! Answer us!" they cried. But there was no response. Nobody answered. So they kept on dancing around the altar that they had made. Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them: "Shout louder! "He's a god, so maybe he's busy. "Maybe he's relieving himself. "Maybe he's busy someplace. "Maybe he's taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up." So the prophets of Baal cried even louder and slashed themselves with swords and lances until their blood gushed out all over them, as was their custom. They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention. Eventually, Elijah told everybody, "Come here!" So everybody approached him, and he repaired the LORD's altar that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob's descendants, to whom the message from the LORD had come that "Israel is to be your name." So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the LORD. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he laid the wood in order, cut the bull into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood. "Fill four pitchers with water," he ordered. "Then pour them out on the burnt offering and the wood." "Do it a second time," he ordered. So they did it a second time. "Do it a third time," he said. So they did it a third time. The water ran down around the altar and completely filled the trench. As the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again." Right then the LORD's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench! When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!" But Elijah said, "Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don't let even one of them get away." So the people seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and executed them there. After this, Elijah told Ahab, "Get up and have something to eat and drink, because there's the sound of a coming rainstorm." So Ahab got up to get something to eat and drink while Elijah went back up to the top of Mount Carmel, where he bowed low to the ground and placed his face between his knees. Then he told his young servant, "Go and look toward the sea." So he went and looked out to sea. "Nothing there," he said. But Elijah told him to go back seven times. On the seventh look, he said, "Look! There's a cloud, a small one, about the size of a man's hand. It's coming up out of the sea!" "Get up and find Ahab!" Elijah said. "Tell him, "Mount your chariot and ride down the mountain so the storm doesn't stop you.'" A little while later, the sky turned black with storm clouds and winds, and there was a heavy shower. So Ahab rode off to Jezreel. After Ahab had left, the hand of the LORD came upon Elijah, and he tucked his mantle into his belt and outran Ahab in a race to the city gate of Jezreel.
Awakenings and religious reforms » Special examples of » Elijah
where Elijah approached all the people and asked them, "How long will you keep hesitating between both sides? If the LORD is God, go after him. If Baal, go after him." But the people didn't say a word. So Elijah told the people, "I'm the only one left over as a prophet of the LORD, am I? But Baal's prophets number 450 men? So let them provide two oxen. They can choose one ox for themselves. Cut it up, lay it on top of some wood, but don't set fire to it. I will prepare the other ox and lay it on top of some wood, and I won't set fire to it. read more.
Then you can call on the name of your god, and I'll call on the name of the LORD. Let the God who answers by fire be our God!" "That's a good idea!" all the people shouted. So Elijah told the prophets of Baal, "Choose an ox for yourselves and you prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but don't set fire to the offering." So they took the ox that was given to them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from early morning until noon. "Baal! Answer us!" they cried. But there was no response. Nobody answered. So they kept on dancing around the altar that they had made. Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them: "Shout louder! "He's a god, so maybe he's busy. "Maybe he's relieving himself. "Maybe he's busy someplace. "Maybe he's taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up." So the prophets of Baal cried even louder and slashed themselves with swords and lances until their blood gushed out all over them, as was their custom. They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention. Eventually, Elijah told everybody, "Come here!" So everybody approached him, and he repaired the LORD's altar that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob's descendants, to whom the message from the LORD had come that "Israel is to be your name." So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the LORD. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he laid the wood in order, cut the bull into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood. "Fill four pitchers with water," he ordered. "Then pour them out on the burnt offering and the wood." "Do it a second time," he ordered. So they did it a second time. "Do it a third time," he said. So they did it a third time. The water ran down around the altar and completely filled the trench. As the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again." Right then the LORD's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench! When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!" But Elijah said, "Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don't let even one of them get away." So the people seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and executed them there.
Then you can call on the name of your god, and I'll call on the name of the LORD. Let the God who answers by fire be our God!" "That's a good idea!" all the people shouted. So Elijah told the prophets of Baal, "Choose an ox for yourselves and you prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but don't set fire to the offering." So they took the ox that was given to them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from early morning until noon. "Baal! Answer us!" they cried. But there was no response. Nobody answered. So they kept on dancing around the altar that they had made. Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them: "Shout louder! "He's a god, so maybe he's busy. "Maybe he's relieving himself. "Maybe he's busy someplace. "Maybe he's taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up." So the prophets of Baal cried even louder and slashed themselves with swords and lances until their blood gushed out all over them, as was their custom. They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention. Eventually, Elijah told everybody, "Come here!" So everybody approached him, and he repaired the LORD's altar that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob's descendants, to whom the message from the LORD had come that "Israel is to be your name." So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the LORD. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he laid the wood in order, cut the bull into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood. "Fill four pitchers with water," he ordered. "Then pour them out on the burnt offering and the wood." "Do it a second time," he ordered. So they did it a second time. "Do it a third time," he said. So they did it a third time. The water ran down around the altar and completely filled the trench. As the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again." Right then the LORD's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench! When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!" But Elijah said, "Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don't let even one of them get away." So the people seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and executed them there.
religious Awakenings » Special examples of » Elijah
where Elijah approached all the people and asked them, "How long will you keep hesitating between both sides? If the LORD is God, go after him. If Baal, go after him." But the people didn't say a word. So Elijah told the people, "I'm the only one left over as a prophet of the LORD, am I? But Baal's prophets number 450 men? So let them provide two oxen. They can choose one ox for themselves. Cut it up, lay it on top of some wood, but don't set fire to it. I will prepare the other ox and lay it on top of some wood, and I won't set fire to it. read more.
Then you can call on the name of your god, and I'll call on the name of the LORD. Let the God who answers by fire be our God!" "That's a good idea!" all the people shouted. So Elijah told the prophets of Baal, "Choose an ox for yourselves and you prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but don't set fire to the offering." So they took the ox that was given to them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from early morning until noon. "Baal! Answer us!" they cried. But there was no response. Nobody answered. So they kept on dancing around the altar that they had made. Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them: "Shout louder! "He's a god, so maybe he's busy. "Maybe he's relieving himself. "Maybe he's busy someplace. "Maybe he's taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up." So the prophets of Baal cried even louder and slashed themselves with swords and lances until their blood gushed out all over them, as was their custom. They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention. Eventually, Elijah told everybody, "Come here!" So everybody approached him, and he repaired the LORD's altar that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob's descendants, to whom the message from the LORD had come that "Israel is to be your name." So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the LORD. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he laid the wood in order, cut the bull into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood. "Fill four pitchers with water," he ordered. "Then pour them out on the burnt offering and the wood." "Do it a second time," he ordered. So they did it a second time. "Do it a third time," he said. So they did it a third time. The water ran down around the altar and completely filled the trench. As the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again." Right then the LORD's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench! When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!" But Elijah said, "Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don't let even one of them get away." So the people seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and executed them there.
Then you can call on the name of your god, and I'll call on the name of the LORD. Let the God who answers by fire be our God!" "That's a good idea!" all the people shouted. So Elijah told the prophets of Baal, "Choose an ox for yourselves and you prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but don't set fire to the offering." So they took the ox that was given to them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from early morning until noon. "Baal! Answer us!" they cried. But there was no response. Nobody answered. So they kept on dancing around the altar that they had made. Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them: "Shout louder! "He's a god, so maybe he's busy. "Maybe he's relieving himself. "Maybe he's busy someplace. "Maybe he's taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up." So the prophets of Baal cried even louder and slashed themselves with swords and lances until their blood gushed out all over them, as was their custom. They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention. Eventually, Elijah told everybody, "Come here!" So everybody approached him, and he repaired the LORD's altar that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob's descendants, to whom the message from the LORD had come that "Israel is to be your name." So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the LORD. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he laid the wood in order, cut the bull into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood. "Fill four pitchers with water," he ordered. "Then pour them out on the burnt offering and the wood." "Do it a second time," he ordered. So they did it a second time. "Do it a third time," he said. So they did it a third time. The water ran down around the altar and completely filled the trench. As the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again." Right then the LORD's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench! When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!" But Elijah said, "Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don't let even one of them get away." So the people seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and executed them there.
Carmel » Mountain
When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab asked him, "Is it really you, you destroyer of Israel?" But Elijah replied, "I'm no destroyer of Israel. But you and your ancestor's household have been doing that, because you have abandoned the LORD's commandments and have followed the Baals. So go gather all of Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. Bring along 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah who are funded at Jezebel's expense." read more.
Ahab sent for the Israelis and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel, where Elijah approached all the people and asked them, "How long will you keep hesitating between both sides? If the LORD is God, go after him. If Baal, go after him." But the people didn't say a word. So Elijah told the people, "I'm the only one left over as a prophet of the LORD, am I? But Baal's prophets number 450 men? So let them provide two oxen. They can choose one ox for themselves. Cut it up, lay it on top of some wood, but don't set fire to it. I will prepare the other ox and lay it on top of some wood, and I won't set fire to it. Then you can call on the name of your god, and I'll call on the name of the LORD. Let the God who answers by fire be our God!" "That's a good idea!" all the people shouted. So Elijah told the prophets of Baal, "Choose an ox for yourselves and you prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but don't set fire to the offering." So they took the ox that was given to them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from early morning until noon. "Baal! Answer us!" they cried. But there was no response. Nobody answered. So they kept on dancing around the altar that they had made. Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them: "Shout louder! "He's a god, so maybe he's busy. "Maybe he's relieving himself. "Maybe he's busy someplace. "Maybe he's taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up." So the prophets of Baal cried even louder and slashed themselves with swords and lances until their blood gushed out all over them, as was their custom. They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention. Eventually, Elijah told everybody, "Come here!" So everybody approached him, and he repaired the LORD's altar that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob's descendants, to whom the message from the LORD had come that "Israel is to be your name." So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the LORD. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he laid the wood in order, cut the bull into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood. "Fill four pitchers with water," he ordered. "Then pour them out on the burnt offering and the wood." "Do it a second time," he ordered. So they did it a second time. "Do it a third time," he said. So they did it a third time. The water ran down around the altar and completely filled the trench. As the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again." Right then the LORD's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench! When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!" But Elijah said, "Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don't let even one of them get away." So the people seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and executed them there. After this, Elijah told Ahab, "Get up and have something to eat and drink, because there's the sound of a coming rainstorm." So Ahab got up to get something to eat and drink while Elijah went back up to the top of Mount Carmel, where he bowed low to the ground and placed his face between his knees. Then he told his young servant, "Go and look toward the sea." So he went and looked out to sea. "Nothing there," he said. But Elijah told him to go back seven times. On the seventh look, he said, "Look! There's a cloud, a small one, about the size of a man's hand. It's coming up out of the sea!" "Get up and find Ahab!" Elijah said. "Tell him, "Mount your chariot and ride down the mountain so the storm doesn't stop you.'" A little while later, the sky turned black with storm clouds and winds, and there was a heavy shower. So Ahab rode off to Jezreel. After Ahab had left, the hand of the LORD came upon Elijah, and he tucked his mantle into his belt and outran Ahab in a race to the city gate of Jezreel.
Ahab sent for the Israelis and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel, where Elijah approached all the people and asked them, "How long will you keep hesitating between both sides? If the LORD is God, go after him. If Baal, go after him." But the people didn't say a word. So Elijah told the people, "I'm the only one left over as a prophet of the LORD, am I? But Baal's prophets number 450 men? So let them provide two oxen. They can choose one ox for themselves. Cut it up, lay it on top of some wood, but don't set fire to it. I will prepare the other ox and lay it on top of some wood, and I won't set fire to it. Then you can call on the name of your god, and I'll call on the name of the LORD. Let the God who answers by fire be our God!" "That's a good idea!" all the people shouted. So Elijah told the prophets of Baal, "Choose an ox for yourselves and you prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but don't set fire to the offering." So they took the ox that was given to them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from early morning until noon. "Baal! Answer us!" they cried. But there was no response. Nobody answered. So they kept on dancing around the altar that they had made. Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them: "Shout louder! "He's a god, so maybe he's busy. "Maybe he's relieving himself. "Maybe he's busy someplace. "Maybe he's taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up." So the prophets of Baal cried even louder and slashed themselves with swords and lances until their blood gushed out all over them, as was their custom. They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention. Eventually, Elijah told everybody, "Come here!" So everybody approached him, and he repaired the LORD's altar that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob's descendants, to whom the message from the LORD had come that "Israel is to be your name." So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the LORD. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he laid the wood in order, cut the bull into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood. "Fill four pitchers with water," he ordered. "Then pour them out on the burnt offering and the wood." "Do it a second time," he ordered. So they did it a second time. "Do it a third time," he said. So they did it a third time. The water ran down around the altar and completely filled the trench. As the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again." Right then the LORD's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench! When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!" But Elijah said, "Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don't let even one of them get away." So the people seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and executed them there. After this, Elijah told Ahab, "Get up and have something to eat and drink, because there's the sound of a coming rainstorm." So Ahab got up to get something to eat and drink while Elijah went back up to the top of Mount Carmel, where he bowed low to the ground and placed his face between his knees. Then he told his young servant, "Go and look toward the sea." So he went and looked out to sea. "Nothing there," he said. But Elijah told him to go back seven times. On the seventh look, he said, "Look! There's a cloud, a small one, about the size of a man's hand. It's coming up out of the sea!" "Get up and find Ahab!" Elijah said. "Tell him, "Mount your chariot and ride down the mountain so the storm doesn't stop you.'" A little while later, the sky turned black with storm clouds and winds, and there was a heavy shower. So Ahab rode off to Jezreel. After Ahab had left, the hand of the LORD came upon Elijah, and he tucked his mantle into his belt and outran Ahab in a race to the city gate of Jezreel.
I'll bring Israel back to his pasture. He will graze on Carmel, on Bashan, on Mt. Ephraim, and on Gilead his hunger will be satisfied.
Verse Concepts
The land mourns and wastes away; Lebanon feels ashamed and withers. Sharon is like a desert; Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves."
Verse Concepts
Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel. Your flowing locks are like purple, and a king could be captured in the dangling tresses.
Verse Concepts
it will burst into bloom, and rejoice with gladness and shouts of joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.
Verse Concepts
As certainly as I'm alive and living," declares the King, whose name is the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "Indeed, one will come like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea.
He said, "From Zion the LORD roars, and from Jerusalem he shouts aloud. The shepherds' pastures will languish, and Carmel's summit will wither."
Verse Concepts
Elijah » Three times fed with divine supplies » A fearless reformer
When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab asked him, "Is it really you, you destroyer of Israel?" But Elijah replied, "I'm no destroyer of Israel. But you and your ancestor's household have been doing that, because you have abandoned the LORD's commandments and have followed the Baals. So go gather all of Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. Bring along 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah who are funded at Jezebel's expense." read more.
Ahab sent for the Israelis and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel, where Elijah approached all the people and asked them, "How long will you keep hesitating between both sides? If the LORD is God, go after him. If Baal, go after him." But the people didn't say a word. So Elijah told the people, "I'm the only one left over as a prophet of the LORD, am I? But Baal's prophets number 450 men? So let them provide two oxen. They can choose one ox for themselves. Cut it up, lay it on top of some wood, but don't set fire to it. I will prepare the other ox and lay it on top of some wood, and I won't set fire to it. Then you can call on the name of your god, and I'll call on the name of the LORD. Let the God who answers by fire be our God!" "That's a good idea!" all the people shouted. So Elijah told the prophets of Baal, "Choose an ox for yourselves and you prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but don't set fire to the offering." So they took the ox that was given to them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from early morning until noon. "Baal! Answer us!" they cried. But there was no response. Nobody answered. So they kept on dancing around the altar that they had made. Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them: "Shout louder! "He's a god, so maybe he's busy. "Maybe he's relieving himself. "Maybe he's busy someplace. "Maybe he's taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up." So the prophets of Baal cried even louder and slashed themselves with swords and lances until their blood gushed out all over them, as was their custom. They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention. Eventually, Elijah told everybody, "Come here!" So everybody approached him, and he repaired the LORD's altar that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob's descendants, to whom the message from the LORD had come that "Israel is to be your name." So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the LORD. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he laid the wood in order, cut the bull into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood. "Fill four pitchers with water," he ordered. "Then pour them out on the burnt offering and the wood." "Do it a second time," he ordered. So they did it a second time. "Do it a third time," he said. So they did it a third time. The water ran down around the altar and completely filled the trench. As the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again." Right then the LORD's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench! When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!" But Elijah said, "Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don't let even one of them get away." So the people seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and executed them there.
Ahab sent for the Israelis and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel, where Elijah approached all the people and asked them, "How long will you keep hesitating between both sides? If the LORD is God, go after him. If Baal, go after him." But the people didn't say a word. So Elijah told the people, "I'm the only one left over as a prophet of the LORD, am I? But Baal's prophets number 450 men? So let them provide two oxen. They can choose one ox for themselves. Cut it up, lay it on top of some wood, but don't set fire to it. I will prepare the other ox and lay it on top of some wood, and I won't set fire to it. Then you can call on the name of your god, and I'll call on the name of the LORD. Let the God who answers by fire be our God!" "That's a good idea!" all the people shouted. So Elijah told the prophets of Baal, "Choose an ox for yourselves and you prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but don't set fire to the offering." So they took the ox that was given to them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from early morning until noon. "Baal! Answer us!" they cried. But there was no response. Nobody answered. So they kept on dancing around the altar that they had made. Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them: "Shout louder! "He's a god, so maybe he's busy. "Maybe he's relieving himself. "Maybe he's busy someplace. "Maybe he's taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up." So the prophets of Baal cried even louder and slashed themselves with swords and lances until their blood gushed out all over them, as was their custom. They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention. Eventually, Elijah told everybody, "Come here!" So everybody approached him, and he repaired the LORD's altar that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob's descendants, to whom the message from the LORD had come that "Israel is to be your name." So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the LORD. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he laid the wood in order, cut the bull into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood. "Fill four pitchers with water," he ordered. "Then pour them out on the burnt offering and the wood." "Do it a second time," he ordered. So they did it a second time. "Do it a third time," he said. So they did it a third time. The water ran down around the altar and completely filled the trench. As the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again." Right then the LORD's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench! When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!" But Elijah said, "Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don't let even one of them get away." So the people seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and executed them there.
High places » A term used to describe places of worship
From there Abram traveled on to the hill country east of Bethel and set up his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.
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built an altar to the LORD there, and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD answered David's prayers for the land and the pestilence on Israel was averted.
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God said, "Please take your son, your unique son whom you love Isaac and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him as a burnt offering there on one of the mountains that I will point out to you."
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So Jacob made an oath by his father's Fear, offered sacrifices there on the mountain, and called on his relatives to eat some food. So they ate the food and spent the night on the mountain.
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Right then the LORD's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench!
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The king used to go to Gibeon to sacrifice, since there was a famous high place there, where Solomon once offered 1,000 burnt offerings on that altar.
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He left Zadok the priest and his relatives at the Tent of the LORD at the high place in Gibeon, where they ministered in the LORD's presence,
They answered them: "Yes, he's right there ahead of you. Hurry, for he came to town just today because there is a sacrifice for the people on the high place today.
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Abraham named that place, "The LORD Will Provide," as it is told this day, "On the LORD's mountain, he will provide."
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The people were sacrificing at various high places because the Temple had not yet been built and dedicated to the LORD.
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Eventually, Elijah told everybody, "Come here!" So everybody approached him, and he repaired the LORD's altar that had been torn down.
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Solomon, along with the whole assembly with him, met at the high place in Gibeon because that's where God's Tent of Meeting that the LORD's servant Moses had constructed in the wilderness was located.
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Even so, the people continued to sacrifice in the high places, but only to the LORD their God.
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Kings » Who reigned over israel » Ahab
Omri's son Ahab became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of King Asa of Judah. He reigned over Israel in Samaria for 22 years. Omri's son Ahab practiced more of what the LORD considered to be evil than anyone who had lived before him. In fact, as if it were nothing for him to live like Nebat's son Jeroboam, Ahab married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon. Then he went out to serve Baal and worship him. read more.
He built an altar for Baal in a temple for Baal that he constructed in Samaria. Ahab also erected an Asherah, doing more to provoke the LORD God of Israel than all of the kings of Israel who had reigned before him. It was during Ahab's reign that Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations just as his firstborn son Abiram was dying, and he erected its gates while his youngest son Segub was dying, thus fulfilling the message that the LORD delivered through Nun's son Joshua. Elijah the foreigner, who was an alien resident from Gilead, told Ahab, "As the LORD God of Israel lives, in whose presence I'm standing, there will be neither dew nor rain these next several years, except when I say so." Later, this message came to him from the LORD: "Leave here and go into hiding at the Wadi Cherith, where it enters the Jordan River. You will be able to drink from that brook, and I've commanded some crows to sustain you there." So Elijah left and did exactly what the LORD had told him to do he went to live near the Wadi Cherith, where it enters the Jordan River. Crows would bring him bread and meat both in the morning and in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. But after a while, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then this message came to him from the LORD: "Get up, move to Zarephath in Sidon, and stay there. Look! I've commanded a widow to sustain you there." So he got up and went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the entrance to the city, a widow was there gathering sticks. So he asked her, "Please, may I have some water in a cup so I can have a drink." While she was on her way to get the water, he called out to her, "Would you please also bring me a piece of bread while you're at it?" "As the LORD your God lives," she replied, "I don't have so much as a muffin, just a handful of flour in a bowl and some oil left in a bottle. Now I'm going to find some sticks so I can cook a last meal for my son and for me. Then we're going to eat it and die." But Elijah told her, "You can stop being afraid. Go and do what you said, but first make me a muffin and bring it to me. Then make a meal for yourself and for your son, because this is what the LORD God of Israel says: "That jar of flour will not run out, nor will that bottle of oil become empty until the very day that the LORD sends rain on the surface of the ground.'" So she went out and did precisely what Elijah told her to do. As a result, Elijah, the widow, and her son were fed for days. The jar of flour never ran out and the bottle of oil never became empty, just as the LORD had promised through Elijah. Sometime later, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. In fact, his illness became so severe that he died. "What do we have in common, you man of God?" she accused Elijah. "You came to me so you could uncover my guilt! And you're responsible for the death of my son!" "Give me your son," he replied. Then he took him from her lap, carried him upstairs to the room where he lived, and laid him on his bed. Then he called out to the LORD and asked him, "LORD my God, have you also brought evil to this dear widow with whom I am living as her guest? Have you caused the death of her son?" Then he stretched himself three times and cried out to the LORD, "LORD my God, please cause the soul of this little boy to return to him." The LORD listened to Elijah, and the soul of the little boy returned to him, and he revived. Then Elijah took the little boy downstairs from the upper chamber back into the main house and delivered him to his mother. "Look," Elijah told her, "your son is alive." The woman responded to Elijah, "Now at last I've really learned that you are a man of God and that what you have to say about the LORD is the truth." Quite some time later three years later! this message from the LORD came to Elijah: "Go visit Ahab, and I'll send some rain to the surface of the ground." So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab, right when the famine in Samaria was most severe. Ahab called for Obadiah, his household supervisor. This man, who feared the LORD very much, had taken 100 prophets and had hidden them by fifties in a cave, providing them with food and water when Jezebel was trying to destroy the LORD's prophets. Ahab had instructed Obadiah, "Go throughout the land to all of the water springs and to all of the valleys. Maybe we'll find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive. Also, maybe we won't have to kill some of our cattle." So they divided the land between them so they could conduct their survey. Ahab went off by himself in one direction and Obadiah went off by himself in the other. While Obadiah was on the road, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him and bowed down with his face to the ground. "It's you, isn't it, my master Elijah?" "I am," he replied. "Go tell your master, "Look! Elijah!'" But Obadiah replied, "What did I do wrong, that you would put me in a position where Ahab would execute me? As surely as the LORD your God lives, there isn't a nation or kingdom where my master hasn't tried to find you. Whenever they would say "He isn't here,' he forced that kingdom or nation to swear that they hadn't seen you. But now you're saying "Go tell your master, "Elijah is here!"' As soon as I've left you, the Spirit of the LORD will carry you off to I don't know where! Then when I go tell Ahab and he can't find you, he'll kill me, even though I have been your servant and have feared the LORD since I was young! Hasn't anyone told you, my master, what I did when Jezebel was killing the LORD's prophets? I hid 100 of the LORD's prophets by fifties in a cave and provided food and water for them. Now you're saying, "Go tell your master, "Elijah's here!"' He's sure to kill me!" But Elijah promised him, "As the LORD of the Heavenly Armies lives, in whose presence I stand, I will appear to Ahab today." So Obadiah went out to meet Ahab and reported to him. Then Ahab went to meet Elijah. When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab asked him, "Is it really you, you destroyer of Israel?" But Elijah replied, "I'm no destroyer of Israel. But you and your ancestor's household have been doing that, because you have abandoned the LORD's commandments and have followed the Baals. So go gather all of Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. Bring along 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah who are funded at Jezebel's expense." Ahab sent for the Israelis and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel, where Elijah approached all the people and asked them, "How long will you keep hesitating between both sides? If the LORD is God, go after him. If Baal, go after him." But the people didn't say a word. So Elijah told the people, "I'm the only one left over as a prophet of the LORD, am I? But Baal's prophets number 450 men? So let them provide two oxen. They can choose one ox for themselves. Cut it up, lay it on top of some wood, but don't set fire to it. I will prepare the other ox and lay it on top of some wood, and I won't set fire to it. Then you can call on the name of your god, and I'll call on the name of the LORD. Let the God who answers by fire be our God!" "That's a good idea!" all the people shouted. So Elijah told the prophets of Baal, "Choose an ox for yourselves and you prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but don't set fire to the offering." So they took the ox that was given to them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from early morning until noon. "Baal! Answer us!" they cried. But there was no response. Nobody answered. So they kept on dancing around the altar that they had made. Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them: "Shout louder! "He's a god, so maybe he's busy. "Maybe he's relieving himself. "Maybe he's busy someplace. "Maybe he's taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up." So the prophets of Baal cried even louder and slashed themselves with swords and lances until their blood gushed out all over them, as was their custom. They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention. Eventually, Elijah told everybody, "Come here!" So everybody approached him, and he repaired the LORD's altar that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob's descendants, to whom the message from the LORD had come that "Israel is to be your name." So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the LORD. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he laid the wood in order, cut the bull into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood. "Fill four pitchers with water," he ordered. "Then pour them out on the burnt offering and the wood." "Do it a second time," he ordered. So they did it a second time. "Do it a third time," he said. So they did it a third time. The water ran down around the altar and completely filled the trench. As the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again." Right then the LORD's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench! When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!" But Elijah said, "Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don't let even one of them get away." So the people seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and executed them there. After this, Elijah told Ahab, "Get up and have something to eat and drink, because there's the sound of a coming rainstorm." So Ahab got up to get something to eat and drink while Elijah went back up to the top of Mount Carmel, where he bowed low to the ground and placed his face between his knees. Then he told his young servant, "Go and look toward the sea." So he went and looked out to sea. "Nothing there," he said. But Elijah told him to go back seven times. On the seventh look, he said, "Look! There's a cloud, a small one, about the size of a man's hand. It's coming up out of the sea!" "Get up and find Ahab!" Elijah said. "Tell him, "Mount your chariot and ride down the mountain so the storm doesn't stop you.'" A little while later, the sky turned black with storm clouds and winds, and there was a heavy shower. So Ahab rode off to Jezreel. After Ahab had left, the hand of the LORD came upon Elijah, and he tucked his mantle into his belt and outran Ahab in a race to the city gate of Jezreel. Ahab complained to Jezebel about everything that Elijah had done, especially the part about him killing all the prophets of Baal with a sword. Jezebel sent a messenger to tell Elijah, "May the gods do the same to me and even more if tomorrow about this time I haven't made you like one of those prophets you had killed." Elijah was terrified, so he got up and ran for his life to Beer-sheba, which is part of Judah, and left his servant there and ran for a day's journey deep into the wilderness. He found a juniper tree, sat down under it, and prayed that he could die. He asked God, "Enough! LORD! Take my life, because I'm not better than my ancestors!" Then he lay down and went to sleep under the juniper tree. All of a sudden, there was an angel, who kept grabbing him and telling him, "Get up! Eat!" So he looked around, and there near his head was a muffin sitting on top of some heated stones, along with a jar of water. Elijah ate and drank and then lay down again. Later, the angel of the LORD came a second time, grabbed him, and said "Get up! Eat! The journey ahead is too difficult for you!" So Elijah got up, ate and drank, and survived on that one meal for 40 days and nights as he set out on his journey to Horeb, God's mountain. Elijah arrived at a cave and stayed there. All of a sudden this message came from the LORD: "What are you doing here, Elijah?" "I've been very zealous for the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies," he replied. "The Israelis have abandoned your covenant, demolished your altars, executed your prophets with swords, and I that's right, just me! am the only one left. Now they're seeking my life, to get rid of me!" "Go out," he responded, "and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD." And there was the LORD, passing by! A tremendous, mighty windstorm was tearing at the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces in the presence of the LORD, but the LORD was not in the windstorm. After the wind there came an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there came fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was the sound of a gentle whisper. As soon as Elijah heard it, he covered his face in his mantle, went outside, and stood at the entrance to the cave. And there a voice spoke to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" "I've been very zealous for the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies," he replied. "The Israelis have abandoned your covenant, demolished your altars, executed your prophets with swords, and I that's right, just me! am the only one left. Now they're seeking my life, to get rid of me!" The LORD replied to him, "Go! Return to Damascus, and when you get there, anoint Hazael as king over Aram, anoint Nimshi's son Jehu as king over Israel, and anoint Shaphat's son Elisha from Abel-meholah as a prophet to replace you. Whoever escapes from Hazael's sword Jehu will execute, and whoever escapes from Jehu's sword Elisha will put to death. Nevertheless, I've reserved 7,000 in Israel who have neither bowed their knees to Baal nor kissed him." Elijah left there and located Shaphat's son Elisha, who was plowing, along with a total of twelve pairs of oxen. (He was plowing with the twelfth pair.) As Elijah passed by, he tossed his cloak at Elisha. He abandoned the oxen, ran off to follow Elijah, and asked him, "Please, let me kiss my mother and father good-bye, and then I'll come after you." "Go back again," Elijah replied. "What have I done to you?" So Elisha turned back, took the pair of oxen, sacrificed them, boiled their flesh using the farm implements for fuel, and gave the food to the people with him. Then he got up, followed Elijah, and became his servant. A little while later, King Ben-hadad of Aram mustered an army of cavalry and chariots in a military confederacy with 32 kings, invaded Samaria, and set up siege encampments there. Then he sent envoys to visit King Ahab of Israel and told him, "This is what Ben-hadad says: "Your silver and gold belong to me. So do the most beautiful of your wives and children.'" "Whatever you want, your majesty," the king of Israel answered. "I belong to you, as does everything I own." After delivering Ahab's answer, the envoys returned with this message: "This is what Ben-hadad says: "I've sent my envoys to you to tell you that your silver, gold, wives, and children are to be given to me. About this time tomorrow, I'll send my servants to you, and they'll search through your palace and your servants' houses. Whatever is important to you will be seized and taken away.'" Then the king of Israel called together all of the elders of the land and told them, "Please note that this man is here looking for trouble. He sent a message to me, demanding my wives, my children, and my silver and gold, and I haven't refused him." "Don't listen to him," all the elders and the people replied. "And don't agree to his terms." So he told Ben-hadad's envoys, "Tell his majesty the king, "Everything that you asked for the first time I will do, but this thing I cannot do.'" So the envoys left to deliver Ahab's response. They returned a little while later. Beh-hadad sent this message back: "May the gods do so to me, and more than that also, if the dust that remains of Samaria is enough to fill up a few handfuls for all of the armies at my disposal." But the king of Israel replied, "Tell him, "The one who is starting to strap on his battle armor should never brag like the one who is taking it off.'" Ben-hadad received Ahab's response while he was celebrating with his kings in the battle pavilions. "Sound "Battle Stations!'" he ordered, and the army began to prepare their attack. Right about then, a prophet approached King Ahab of Israel and told him, "This is what the LORD says: "You see all of this great big army, do you? Well now, I'm going to deliver them all right into your hand, and you will learn that I am the LORD!'" "By whom?" Ahab asked. "This is what the LORD says," the prophet replied. ""By the young men who serve as officials within the provinces.'" "Who is to begin the battle?" Ahab asked. "You," the prophet answered. So Ahab gathered together 232 young men who served as officials within the provinces and then mustered 7,000 soldiers from among the Israelis. They attacked at noon, just as Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the battle pavilions, along with the 32 kings who had joined him. The young men who served as officials within the provinces led the charge, and somebody informed Ben-hadad, "Some men have come out from Samaria." "Take them alive, whether they've come in peace or not," he ordered. Meanwhile, as the young men who served as officials within the provinces left the city, their army followed after them. Each man struck down his opponent, and the Arameans ran away with Israel in pursuit. King Ben-hadad of Aram escaped on horseback with the help of his cavalry. The king of Israel went out and attacked the cavalry and chariots and killed the Arameans in a massive victory. The prophet approached the king of Israel and told him, "Go replenish your forces and prepare for the future, because early this next year the king of Aram will attack you again." Sure enough, the advisors to the king of Aram told him, "Their gods are mountain gods. That's why they were stronger than we were. But when we fight them on the plains, we're certain to be the stronger army! So do this: remove the kings from command and replace them with captains. Then replace the army that you lost, horse-for-horse and chariot-for-chariot. We'll fight them on the plains, and we're certain to be the stronger army." Ben-hadad listened to what they had to say and carried out their advice. Early the next year, Ben-hadad mustered the Arameans and invaded Aphek in a battle against Israel. The Israelis were mustered, equipped with provisions, and sent out to fight. The Israeli encampment looked like two little flocks of goats compared to how the Aramean encampments filled the countryside! Right about then, a man of God approached and told the king of Israel, "This is what the LORD says: "Because the Arameans keep saying "The LORD is a mountain god, but isn't a valley god," I'm going to deliver this entire vast army right into your control, so you'll learn that I really am the LORD.'" So they remained in opposing camps for seven days. Then on the seventh day the battle commenced, and the Israelis killed 100,000 Aramean infantry troops in a single day. The rest of the Aramean army retreated into Aphek, but the city wall collapsed on 27,000 soldiers who had taken shelter there. Ben-hadad himself ran away and hid inside a closet somewhere in the city. "Look, now," his advisors suggested, "we've heard that the Israeli kings are merciful. So let's clothe ourselves with sackcloth, tie our hair back with ropes, and go out to the king of Israel. Maybe he'll spare your life." So they put on some sackcloth, tied their hair back with ropes, and approached the king of Israel. "Your servant Ben-hadad says this," they said. "Please let me live." "Is he still alive?" Ahab asked. "He's my brother." Ben-hadad's advisors, quickly analyzing the signs in what Ahab was saying, responded, "Yes, your brother Ben-hadad." "Go get him," Ahab responded. So Ben-hadad came out to him, and Ahab took him up into his personal chariot. Ben-hadad made this promise to Ahab: "I will restore the cities that my ancestors took from your ancestors. You'll be able to build streets named after yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria." "With this promise I will release you," Ahab replied. So Ahab made a treaty with Ben-hadad and let him go. Right about then, one of the members of the guild of prophets told another through a message from the LORD: "Please strike me!" But the man refused to do so, so he told him, "Because you haven't obeyed the LORD's voice, as soon as you leave here, a lion will kill you." As soon as the man left, a lion found him and killed him. Later, he found another man and told him, "Please strike me!" So the man struck him and wounded him. Then the prophet left and waited for the king to pass by, disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes. As the king was passing by, he cried out to the king and told him, "Your servant went out into the middle of the battle, and a soldier turned aside, brought a prisoner to me, and told me, "Guard this man. If he turns up missing for any reason at all, you'll pay for it with your life or be fined one talent of silver.' While your servant was busy here and there, the prisoner escaped." The king told him, "By your actions you've earned the proper judgment!" Then the prophet quickly tore off his bandage, and the king of Israel recognized him as being one of the prophets. He told the king, "This is what the LORD says: "Because you let the man whom I had dedicated to destruction go free, therefore your life is to be forfeited for his life, and your people for his people.'" After hearing this, the king of Israel rode back to his palace in Samaria, frustrated and in a foul mood. Meanwhile, there was a man named Naboth from Jezreel who owned a vineyard that was located contiguous to King Ahab's palace in Samaria. Ahab addressed Naboth and asked him, "I would like to plant a vegetable garden near my house. Please exchange your vineyard with a better one from me, or if you'd rather have cash, I'll buy it for its full value." But Naboth replied to Ahab, "No way! The LORD prohibits the sale to you of the inheritance of my ancestors!" Ahab went back to his palace, sullen and in a foul mood, because Naboth the Jezreelite had turned down Ahab's offer by saying "I will not transfer my ancestors' inheritance to you!" He laid down on his bed, curled up with his face to the wall, and refused to eat. But his wife Jezebel went to him and asked him, "How is it that you're so sullen and refusing to eat?" "I asked Naboth the Jezreelite, "Sell me your vineyard for cash, or if you want, I'll give you a better one in its place.' But he refused. He told me, "I won't give you my vineyard!'" "Aren't you the reigning king of Israel," his wife Jezebel replied. "Get up, have a meal, and get ready to be happy. I'll go get you the vineyard that Naboth the Jezreelite owns." So she wrote some memos in Ahab's name, set his personal seal to them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived with Naboth in his city. In the memos, she wrote the following directives: "Proclaim a public fast and seat Naboth in the front row. Seat two wicked men in front of him, and make them testify against him. Tell them to claim "You cursed God and the king.' Then take him out and stone him to death." So the leading men of the city, along with the elders and nobles who lived there, did precisely what Jezebel had directed them to do. They followed the instructions that she had set forth in the memos: They proclaimed a public fast and seated Naboth in the front row. Two wicked men came in, sat down in front of them, and testified against Naboth in public, "Naboth cursed God and the king!" So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. Afterwards, they sent a message to Jezebel that said, "Naboth has been stoned. He's dead." When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she told Ahab, "Get up and confiscate Naboth's vineyard that he refused to sell you for cash. Naboth the Jezreelite isn't alive anymore. He's dead!" So once he heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab got up, went down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, and confiscated it. That's when this message from the LORD came to Elijah the foreigner: "Get up and go down to meet King Ahab of Israel. He's in Samaria. Look! He's in Naboth's vineyard, where he's gone to confiscate it. Ask the king, "Did you commit murder? And now you're going to steal as well?' Also tell him, "This is what the LORD says: "Where the dogs were licking up Naboth's blood, dogs will also lick up your blood that's right yours!"'" Later on, Ahab asked Elijah, "Have you found me, my enemy?" But Elijah answered, "I've found you because you sold yourself to do what the LORD considers to be evil! Now pay attention! I'm going to send evil in your direction! I will completely sweep you away and eliminate from Ahab every male, whether indentured servant or free, throughout Israel. I will make your household resemble that of Nebat's son Jeroboam, or like the household of Ahijah's son Baasha, because of how you've provoked me to anger and made Israel to sin. The LORD also has this to say about Jezebel: "Dogs will eat Jezebel within the outer ramparts of Jezreel. Dogs will eat whoever belongs to Ahab and who dies in the city. The birds of the sky will eat whoever dies in the fields.'" It can be truly said that no one else sold himself to practice what the LORD considered to be evil quite like the way Ahab did, because his wife Jezebel incited him. His behavior in pursuing idolatry was detestable, just like the Amorites had done whom the LORD had expelled in front of the army of Israel. Nevertheless, as soon as Ahab heard this message, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He even slept in sackcloth and wandered around meekly. Later, this message from the LORD came to Elijah the foreigner: "Have you noticed that Ahab has humbled himself in my presence? Because he has humbled himself in my presence, I will not bring his evil to harvest during his lifetime, but I will bring evil to his household during his son's lifetime." Three years passed without war between Aram and Israel. During that third year, King Jehoshaphat of Judah went to visit the king of Israel. The king of Israel asked his servants, "Were you aware that Ramoth-gilead belongs to us, but we aren't doing anything to remove it from the control of the king of Aram?" Then he asked Jehoshaphat, "Will you join me in battle against Ramoth-gilead?" "I'm with you," Jehoshaphat answered the king of Israel. "My army will join yours, and my cavalry will be your cavalry." But Jehoshaphat also asked the king of Israel, "Please ask for a message from the LORD, first." So the king of Israel called in about 400 prophets and asked them, "Should we go attack Ramoth-gilead, or should I call off the attack?" "Go attack them," they all said, "because the Lord will drop them right into the king's hand!" But Jehoshaphat asked, "Isn't there a prophet of the LORD left here that we could talk to?" "There is still one man left by whom we could ask the LORD what to do," the king of Israel replied to Jehoshaphat, "but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me. Instead, he prophesies evil. He is Imla's son Micaiah." But Jehoshaphat rebuked Ahab, "Kings should never talk like that." Nevertheless, the king of Israel called one of his officers and ordered him, "Bring me Imla's son Micaiah quickly." Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were each sitting on their respective thrones, arrayed in their robes, on the threshing floor at the entrance to the city gate of Samaria, and all of the prophets were prophesying in front of them. Chenaanah's son Zedekiah made iron horns for himself and told them, "This is what the LORD says, "With these horns you are to gore the Arameans until they are eliminated!'" All the other prophets were saying similar things, like "Go up to Ramoth-gilead and you will be successful, because the LORD will hand it over to the king!" Meanwhile, the messenger who had gone off to summon Micaiah advised him, "Look, everything that the other prophets were saying was unanimously favorable to the king. So please, cooperate with them and speak favorably." "As the LORD lives," Micaiah replied, "I'll say what my God tells me to say." When Micaiah approached the king, the king asked him, "Micaiah, should we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I not?" "Go to war," Micaiah replied, "and you will be successful, because the LORD will hand it over to the king!" When he heard this, the king asked him, "How many times do I have to make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth? Now do it in the name of the LORD!" So Micaiah replied: "I saw all of Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep without a shepherd. And the LORD told me, "These have no master, so let them each return to his own home in peace.'" Then the king of Israel told Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you that he wouldn't prophesy anything good about me, but only evil?" But Micaiah responded, "Therefore, listen to what the LORD has to say. I saw the LORD, sitting on his throne, and the entire Heavenly Army was standing around him on his right hand and on his left hand. "The LORD asked, "Who will tempt King Ahab of Israel to attack Ramoth-gilead, so that he will die there?' And one was saying one thing and one was saying another. "But then a spirit approached, stood in front of the LORD, and said, "I will entice him.' "And the LORD asked him, "How?' ""I will go,' he announced, "and I will be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all of his prophets!' "So the LORD said, "You're just the one to deceive him. You will be successful. Go and do it.' "Now therefore, listen! The LORD has placed a lying spirit in the mouth of all of these prophets of yours, because the LORD has determined to bring disaster upon you." Right then, Chenaanah's son Zedekiah approached Micaiah and struck him on the cheek. Then he asked him, "How did the Spirit of the LORD move from me to speak to you?" Micaiah replied, "You'll see how when the day comes that you run away to hide yourself in a closet!" Then the king of Israel ordered, "Take Micaiah and place him in the custody of Amon, the city governor. Hand him over to Joash, the king's son. Give him this order: "Place him in prison on survival rations of bread and water only until I come back safely.'" "If you return alive," Micaiah responded, "then the LORD has not spoken by me." Then he added, "Listen, all you people!" So the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah both attacked Ramoth-gilead. The king of Israel suggested to Jehoshaphat, "I'll go into battle in disguise, but you keep your royal uniform on." So the king of Israel disguised himself and they both went into the battle. Meanwhile, the king of Aram had issued these orders to 32 of his chariot commanders: "Don't attack unimportant soldiers or ranking officers. Go after only the king of Israel." So when the chariot commanders observed Jehoshaphat, they said by mistake, "It's the king of Israel!" and they turned aside to attack him. But Jehoshaphat cried out. When the chariot commanders saw that their target was not the king of Israel, they stopped pursuing him. Meanwhile, somebody drew his bow aimlessly and struck the king of Israel between the scales where his armor breastplates joined, so he instructed his chariot driver, "Turn around and take me out of the battle, because I've been severely wounded." The battle continued on for the rest of the day while the king of Israel was propped up in front of the Arameans until the sun set, at which time he died. The blood from Ahab's wound ran down into the bottom of the chariot. As the day drew to a close, this order was circulated throughout the army telling the soldiers, "Everybody go back to his city and to his own land." So the king died and was brought back to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria. They washed the chariot by the reservoir of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood near where the prostitutes went to bathe, in keeping with the message that the LORD had spoken. Now as to the rest of Ahab's accomplishments, everything that he undertook, the ivory palace he built, and the cities that he built, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, are they not? That's how Ahab died, just as his ancestors had, and his son Ahaziah became king in his place.
He built an altar for Baal in a temple for Baal that he constructed in Samaria. Ahab also erected an Asherah, doing more to provoke the LORD God of Israel than all of the kings of Israel who had reigned before him. It was during Ahab's reign that Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations just as his firstborn son Abiram was dying, and he erected its gates while his youngest son Segub was dying, thus fulfilling the message that the LORD delivered through Nun's son Joshua. Elijah the foreigner, who was an alien resident from Gilead, told Ahab, "As the LORD God of Israel lives, in whose presence I'm standing, there will be neither dew nor rain these next several years, except when I say so." Later, this message came to him from the LORD: "Leave here and go into hiding at the Wadi Cherith, where it enters the Jordan River. You will be able to drink from that brook, and I've commanded some crows to sustain you there." So Elijah left and did exactly what the LORD had told him to do he went to live near the Wadi Cherith, where it enters the Jordan River. Crows would bring him bread and meat both in the morning and in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. But after a while, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then this message came to him from the LORD: "Get up, move to Zarephath in Sidon, and stay there. Look! I've commanded a widow to sustain you there." So he got up and went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the entrance to the city, a widow was there gathering sticks. So he asked her, "Please, may I have some water in a cup so I can have a drink." While she was on her way to get the water, he called out to her, "Would you please also bring me a piece of bread while you're at it?" "As the LORD your God lives," she replied, "I don't have so much as a muffin, just a handful of flour in a bowl and some oil left in a bottle. Now I'm going to find some sticks so I can cook a last meal for my son and for me. Then we're going to eat it and die." But Elijah told her, "You can stop being afraid. Go and do what you said, but first make me a muffin and bring it to me. Then make a meal for yourself and for your son, because this is what the LORD God of Israel says: "That jar of flour will not run out, nor will that bottle of oil become empty until the very day that the LORD sends rain on the surface of the ground.'" So she went out and did precisely what Elijah told her to do. As a result, Elijah, the widow, and her son were fed for days. The jar of flour never ran out and the bottle of oil never became empty, just as the LORD had promised through Elijah. Sometime later, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. In fact, his illness became so severe that he died. "What do we have in common, you man of God?" she accused Elijah. "You came to me so you could uncover my guilt! And you're responsible for the death of my son!" "Give me your son," he replied. Then he took him from her lap, carried him upstairs to the room where he lived, and laid him on his bed. Then he called out to the LORD and asked him, "LORD my God, have you also brought evil to this dear widow with whom I am living as her guest? Have you caused the death of her son?" Then he stretched himself three times and cried out to the LORD, "LORD my God, please cause the soul of this little boy to return to him." The LORD listened to Elijah, and the soul of the little boy returned to him, and he revived. Then Elijah took the little boy downstairs from the upper chamber back into the main house and delivered him to his mother. "Look," Elijah told her, "your son is alive." The woman responded to Elijah, "Now at last I've really learned that you are a man of God and that what you have to say about the LORD is the truth." Quite some time later three years later! this message from the LORD came to Elijah: "Go visit Ahab, and I'll send some rain to the surface of the ground." So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab, right when the famine in Samaria was most severe. Ahab called for Obadiah, his household supervisor. This man, who feared the LORD very much, had taken 100 prophets and had hidden them by fifties in a cave, providing them with food and water when Jezebel was trying to destroy the LORD's prophets. Ahab had instructed Obadiah, "Go throughout the land to all of the water springs and to all of the valleys. Maybe we'll find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive. Also, maybe we won't have to kill some of our cattle." So they divided the land between them so they could conduct their survey. Ahab went off by himself in one direction and Obadiah went off by himself in the other. While Obadiah was on the road, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him and bowed down with his face to the ground. "It's you, isn't it, my master Elijah?" "I am," he replied. "Go tell your master, "Look! Elijah!'" But Obadiah replied, "What did I do wrong, that you would put me in a position where Ahab would execute me? As surely as the LORD your God lives, there isn't a nation or kingdom where my master hasn't tried to find you. Whenever they would say "He isn't here,' he forced that kingdom or nation to swear that they hadn't seen you. But now you're saying "Go tell your master, "Elijah is here!"' As soon as I've left you, the Spirit of the LORD will carry you off to I don't know where! Then when I go tell Ahab and he can't find you, he'll kill me, even though I have been your servant and have feared the LORD since I was young! Hasn't anyone told you, my master, what I did when Jezebel was killing the LORD's prophets? I hid 100 of the LORD's prophets by fifties in a cave and provided food and water for them. Now you're saying, "Go tell your master, "Elijah's here!"' He's sure to kill me!" But Elijah promised him, "As the LORD of the Heavenly Armies lives, in whose presence I stand, I will appear to Ahab today." So Obadiah went out to meet Ahab and reported to him. Then Ahab went to meet Elijah. When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab asked him, "Is it really you, you destroyer of Israel?" But Elijah replied, "I'm no destroyer of Israel. But you and your ancestor's household have been doing that, because you have abandoned the LORD's commandments and have followed the Baals. So go gather all of Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. Bring along 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah who are funded at Jezebel's expense." Ahab sent for the Israelis and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel, where Elijah approached all the people and asked them, "How long will you keep hesitating between both sides? If the LORD is God, go after him. If Baal, go after him." But the people didn't say a word. So Elijah told the people, "I'm the only one left over as a prophet of the LORD, am I? But Baal's prophets number 450 men? So let them provide two oxen. They can choose one ox for themselves. Cut it up, lay it on top of some wood, but don't set fire to it. I will prepare the other ox and lay it on top of some wood, and I won't set fire to it. Then you can call on the name of your god, and I'll call on the name of the LORD. Let the God who answers by fire be our God!" "That's a good idea!" all the people shouted. So Elijah told the prophets of Baal, "Choose an ox for yourselves and you prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but don't set fire to the offering." So they took the ox that was given to them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from early morning until noon. "Baal! Answer us!" they cried. But there was no response. Nobody answered. So they kept on dancing around the altar that they had made. Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them: "Shout louder! "He's a god, so maybe he's busy. "Maybe he's relieving himself. "Maybe he's busy someplace. "Maybe he's taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up." So the prophets of Baal cried even louder and slashed themselves with swords and lances until their blood gushed out all over them, as was their custom. They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention. Eventually, Elijah told everybody, "Come here!" So everybody approached him, and he repaired the LORD's altar that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob's descendants, to whom the message from the LORD had come that "Israel is to be your name." So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the LORD. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he laid the wood in order, cut the bull into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood. "Fill four pitchers with water," he ordered. "Then pour them out on the burnt offering and the wood." "Do it a second time," he ordered. So they did it a second time. "Do it a third time," he said. So they did it a third time. The water ran down around the altar and completely filled the trench. As the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again." Right then the LORD's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench! When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!" But Elijah said, "Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don't let even one of them get away." So the people seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and executed them there. After this, Elijah told Ahab, "Get up and have something to eat and drink, because there's the sound of a coming rainstorm." So Ahab got up to get something to eat and drink while Elijah went back up to the top of Mount Carmel, where he bowed low to the ground and placed his face between his knees. Then he told his young servant, "Go and look toward the sea." So he went and looked out to sea. "Nothing there," he said. But Elijah told him to go back seven times. On the seventh look, he said, "Look! There's a cloud, a small one, about the size of a man's hand. It's coming up out of the sea!" "Get up and find Ahab!" Elijah said. "Tell him, "Mount your chariot and ride down the mountain so the storm doesn't stop you.'" A little while later, the sky turned black with storm clouds and winds, and there was a heavy shower. So Ahab rode off to Jezreel. After Ahab had left, the hand of the LORD came upon Elijah, and he tucked his mantle into his belt and outran Ahab in a race to the city gate of Jezreel. Ahab complained to Jezebel about everything that Elijah had done, especially the part about him killing all the prophets of Baal with a sword. Jezebel sent a messenger to tell Elijah, "May the gods do the same to me and even more if tomorrow about this time I haven't made you like one of those prophets you had killed." Elijah was terrified, so he got up and ran for his life to Beer-sheba, which is part of Judah, and left his servant there and ran for a day's journey deep into the wilderness. He found a juniper tree, sat down under it, and prayed that he could die. He asked God, "Enough! LORD! Take my life, because I'm not better than my ancestors!" Then he lay down and went to sleep under the juniper tree. All of a sudden, there was an angel, who kept grabbing him and telling him, "Get up! Eat!" So he looked around, and there near his head was a muffin sitting on top of some heated stones, along with a jar of water. Elijah ate and drank and then lay down again. Later, the angel of the LORD came a second time, grabbed him, and said "Get up! Eat! The journey ahead is too difficult for you!" So Elijah got up, ate and drank, and survived on that one meal for 40 days and nights as he set out on his journey to Horeb, God's mountain. Elijah arrived at a cave and stayed there. All of a sudden this message came from the LORD: "What are you doing here, Elijah?" "I've been very zealous for the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies," he replied. "The Israelis have abandoned your covenant, demolished your altars, executed your prophets with swords, and I that's right, just me! am the only one left. Now they're seeking my life, to get rid of me!" "Go out," he responded, "and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD." And there was the LORD, passing by! A tremendous, mighty windstorm was tearing at the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces in the presence of the LORD, but the LORD was not in the windstorm. After the wind there came an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there came fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was the sound of a gentle whisper. As soon as Elijah heard it, he covered his face in his mantle, went outside, and stood at the entrance to the cave. And there a voice spoke to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" "I've been very zealous for the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies," he replied. "The Israelis have abandoned your covenant, demolished your altars, executed your prophets with swords, and I that's right, just me! am the only one left. Now they're seeking my life, to get rid of me!" The LORD replied to him, "Go! Return to Damascus, and when you get there, anoint Hazael as king over Aram, anoint Nimshi's son Jehu as king over Israel, and anoint Shaphat's son Elisha from Abel-meholah as a prophet to replace you. Whoever escapes from Hazael's sword Jehu will execute, and whoever escapes from Jehu's sword Elisha will put to death. Nevertheless, I've reserved 7,000 in Israel who have neither bowed their knees to Baal nor kissed him." Elijah left there and located Shaphat's son Elisha, who was plowing, along with a total of twelve pairs of oxen. (He was plowing with the twelfth pair.) As Elijah passed by, he tossed his cloak at Elisha. He abandoned the oxen, ran off to follow Elijah, and asked him, "Please, let me kiss my mother and father good-bye, and then I'll come after you." "Go back again," Elijah replied. "What have I done to you?" So Elisha turned back, took the pair of oxen, sacrificed them, boiled their flesh using the farm implements for fuel, and gave the food to the people with him. Then he got up, followed Elijah, and became his servant. A little while later, King Ben-hadad of Aram mustered an army of cavalry and chariots in a military confederacy with 32 kings, invaded Samaria, and set up siege encampments there. Then he sent envoys to visit King Ahab of Israel and told him, "This is what Ben-hadad says: "Your silver and gold belong to me. So do the most beautiful of your wives and children.'" "Whatever you want, your majesty," the king of Israel answered. "I belong to you, as does everything I own." After delivering Ahab's answer, the envoys returned with this message: "This is what Ben-hadad says: "I've sent my envoys to you to tell you that your silver, gold, wives, and children are to be given to me. About this time tomorrow, I'll send my servants to you, and they'll search through your palace and your servants' houses. Whatever is important to you will be seized and taken away.'" Then the king of Israel called together all of the elders of the land and told them, "Please note that this man is here looking for trouble. He sent a message to me, demanding my wives, my children, and my silver and gold, and I haven't refused him." "Don't listen to him," all the elders and the people replied. "And don't agree to his terms." So he told Ben-hadad's envoys, "Tell his majesty the king, "Everything that you asked for the first time I will do, but this thing I cannot do.'" So the envoys left to deliver Ahab's response. They returned a little while later. Beh-hadad sent this message back: "May the gods do so to me, and more than that also, if the dust that remains of Samaria is enough to fill up a few handfuls for all of the armies at my disposal." But the king of Israel replied, "Tell him, "The one who is starting to strap on his battle armor should never brag like the one who is taking it off.'" Ben-hadad received Ahab's response while he was celebrating with his kings in the battle pavilions. "Sound "Battle Stations!'" he ordered, and the army began to prepare their attack. Right about then, a prophet approached King Ahab of Israel and told him, "This is what the LORD says: "You see all of this great big army, do you? Well now, I'm going to deliver them all right into your hand, and you will learn that I am the LORD!'" "By whom?" Ahab asked. "This is what the LORD says," the prophet replied. ""By the young men who serve as officials within the provinces.'" "Who is to begin the battle?" Ahab asked. "You," the prophet answered. So Ahab gathered together 232 young men who served as officials within the provinces and then mustered 7,000 soldiers from among the Israelis. They attacked at noon, just as Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the battle pavilions, along with the 32 kings who had joined him. The young men who served as officials within the provinces led the charge, and somebody informed Ben-hadad, "Some men have come out from Samaria." "Take them alive, whether they've come in peace or not," he ordered. Meanwhile, as the young men who served as officials within the provinces left the city, their army followed after them. Each man struck down his opponent, and the Arameans ran away with Israel in pursuit. King Ben-hadad of Aram escaped on horseback with the help of his cavalry. The king of Israel went out and attacked the cavalry and chariots and killed the Arameans in a massive victory. The prophet approached the king of Israel and told him, "Go replenish your forces and prepare for the future, because early this next year the king of Aram will attack you again." Sure enough, the advisors to the king of Aram told him, "Their gods are mountain gods. That's why they were stronger than we were. But when we fight them on the plains, we're certain to be the stronger army! So do this: remove the kings from command and replace them with captains. Then replace the army that you lost, horse-for-horse and chariot-for-chariot. We'll fight them on the plains, and we're certain to be the stronger army." Ben-hadad listened to what they had to say and carried out their advice. Early the next year, Ben-hadad mustered the Arameans and invaded Aphek in a battle against Israel. The Israelis were mustered, equipped with provisions, and sent out to fight. The Israeli encampment looked like two little flocks of goats compared to how the Aramean encampments filled the countryside! Right about then, a man of God approached and told the king of Israel, "This is what the LORD says: "Because the Arameans keep saying "The LORD is a mountain god, but isn't a valley god," I'm going to deliver this entire vast army right into your control, so you'll learn that I really am the LORD.'" So they remained in opposing camps for seven days. Then on the seventh day the battle commenced, and the Israelis killed 100,000 Aramean infantry troops in a single day. The rest of the Aramean army retreated into Aphek, but the city wall collapsed on 27,000 soldiers who had taken shelter there. Ben-hadad himself ran away and hid inside a closet somewhere in the city. "Look, now," his advisors suggested, "we've heard that the Israeli kings are merciful. So let's clothe ourselves with sackcloth, tie our hair back with ropes, and go out to the king of Israel. Maybe he'll spare your life." So they put on some sackcloth, tied their hair back with ropes, and approached the king of Israel. "Your servant Ben-hadad says this," they said. "Please let me live." "Is he still alive?" Ahab asked. "He's my brother." Ben-hadad's advisors, quickly analyzing the signs in what Ahab was saying, responded, "Yes, your brother Ben-hadad." "Go get him," Ahab responded. So Ben-hadad came out to him, and Ahab took him up into his personal chariot. Ben-hadad made this promise to Ahab: "I will restore the cities that my ancestors took from your ancestors. You'll be able to build streets named after yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria." "With this promise I will release you," Ahab replied. So Ahab made a treaty with Ben-hadad and let him go. Right about then, one of the members of the guild of prophets told another through a message from the LORD: "Please strike me!" But the man refused to do so, so he told him, "Because you haven't obeyed the LORD's voice, as soon as you leave here, a lion will kill you." As soon as the man left, a lion found him and killed him. Later, he found another man and told him, "Please strike me!" So the man struck him and wounded him. Then the prophet left and waited for the king to pass by, disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes. As the king was passing by, he cried out to the king and told him, "Your servant went out into the middle of the battle, and a soldier turned aside, brought a prisoner to me, and told me, "Guard this man. If he turns up missing for any reason at all, you'll pay for it with your life or be fined one talent of silver.' While your servant was busy here and there, the prisoner escaped." The king told him, "By your actions you've earned the proper judgment!" Then the prophet quickly tore off his bandage, and the king of Israel recognized him as being one of the prophets. He told the king, "This is what the LORD says: "Because you let the man whom I had dedicated to destruction go free, therefore your life is to be forfeited for his life, and your people for his people.'" After hearing this, the king of Israel rode back to his palace in Samaria, frustrated and in a foul mood. Meanwhile, there was a man named Naboth from Jezreel who owned a vineyard that was located contiguous to King Ahab's palace in Samaria. Ahab addressed Naboth and asked him, "I would like to plant a vegetable garden near my house. Please exchange your vineyard with a better one from me, or if you'd rather have cash, I'll buy it for its full value." But Naboth replied to Ahab, "No way! The LORD prohibits the sale to you of the inheritance of my ancestors!" Ahab went back to his palace, sullen and in a foul mood, because Naboth the Jezreelite had turned down Ahab's offer by saying "I will not transfer my ancestors' inheritance to you!" He laid down on his bed, curled up with his face to the wall, and refused to eat. But his wife Jezebel went to him and asked him, "How is it that you're so sullen and refusing to eat?" "I asked Naboth the Jezreelite, "Sell me your vineyard for cash, or if you want, I'll give you a better one in its place.' But he refused. He told me, "I won't give you my vineyard!'" "Aren't you the reigning king of Israel," his wife Jezebel replied. "Get up, have a meal, and get ready to be happy. I'll go get you the vineyard that Naboth the Jezreelite owns." So she wrote some memos in Ahab's name, set his personal seal to them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived with Naboth in his city. In the memos, she wrote the following directives: "Proclaim a public fast and seat Naboth in the front row. Seat two wicked men in front of him, and make them testify against him. Tell them to claim "You cursed God and the king.' Then take him out and stone him to death." So the leading men of the city, along with the elders and nobles who lived there, did precisely what Jezebel had directed them to do. They followed the instructions that she had set forth in the memos: They proclaimed a public fast and seated Naboth in the front row. Two wicked men came in, sat down in front of them, and testified against Naboth in public, "Naboth cursed God and the king!" So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. Afterwards, they sent a message to Jezebel that said, "Naboth has been stoned. He's dead." When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she told Ahab, "Get up and confiscate Naboth's vineyard that he refused to sell you for cash. Naboth the Jezreelite isn't alive anymore. He's dead!" So once he heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab got up, went down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, and confiscated it. That's when this message from the LORD came to Elijah the foreigner: "Get up and go down to meet King Ahab of Israel. He's in Samaria. Look! He's in Naboth's vineyard, where he's gone to confiscate it. Ask the king, "Did you commit murder? And now you're going to steal as well?' Also tell him, "This is what the LORD says: "Where the dogs were licking up Naboth's blood, dogs will also lick up your blood that's right yours!"'" Later on, Ahab asked Elijah, "Have you found me, my enemy?" But Elijah answered, "I've found you because you sold yourself to do what the LORD considers to be evil! Now pay attention! I'm going to send evil in your direction! I will completely sweep you away and eliminate from Ahab every male, whether indentured servant or free, throughout Israel. I will make your household resemble that of Nebat's son Jeroboam, or like the household of Ahijah's son Baasha, because of how you've provoked me to anger and made Israel to sin. The LORD also has this to say about Jezebel: "Dogs will eat Jezebel within the outer ramparts of Jezreel. Dogs will eat whoever belongs to Ahab and who dies in the city. The birds of the sky will eat whoever dies in the fields.'" It can be truly said that no one else sold himself to practice what the LORD considered to be evil quite like the way Ahab did, because his wife Jezebel incited him. His behavior in pursuing idolatry was detestable, just like the Amorites had done whom the LORD had expelled in front of the army of Israel. Nevertheless, as soon as Ahab heard this message, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He even slept in sackcloth and wandered around meekly. Later, this message from the LORD came to Elijah the foreigner: "Have you noticed that Ahab has humbled himself in my presence? Because he has humbled himself in my presence, I will not bring his evil to harvest during his lifetime, but I will bring evil to his household during his son's lifetime." Three years passed without war between Aram and Israel. During that third year, King Jehoshaphat of Judah went to visit the king of Israel. The king of Israel asked his servants, "Were you aware that Ramoth-gilead belongs to us, but we aren't doing anything to remove it from the control of the king of Aram?" Then he asked Jehoshaphat, "Will you join me in battle against Ramoth-gilead?" "I'm with you," Jehoshaphat answered the king of Israel. "My army will join yours, and my cavalry will be your cavalry." But Jehoshaphat also asked the king of Israel, "Please ask for a message from the LORD, first." So the king of Israel called in about 400 prophets and asked them, "Should we go attack Ramoth-gilead, or should I call off the attack?" "Go attack them," they all said, "because the Lord will drop them right into the king's hand!" But Jehoshaphat asked, "Isn't there a prophet of the LORD left here that we could talk to?" "There is still one man left by whom we could ask the LORD what to do," the king of Israel replied to Jehoshaphat, "but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me. Instead, he prophesies evil. He is Imla's son Micaiah." But Jehoshaphat rebuked Ahab, "Kings should never talk like that." Nevertheless, the king of Israel called one of his officers and ordered him, "Bring me Imla's son Micaiah quickly." Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were each sitting on their respective thrones, arrayed in their robes, on the threshing floor at the entrance to the city gate of Samaria, and all of the prophets were prophesying in front of them. Chenaanah's son Zedekiah made iron horns for himself and told them, "This is what the LORD says, "With these horns you are to gore the Arameans until they are eliminated!'" All the other prophets were saying similar things, like "Go up to Ramoth-gilead and you will be successful, because the LORD will hand it over to the king!" Meanwhile, the messenger who had gone off to summon Micaiah advised him, "Look, everything that the other prophets were saying was unanimously favorable to the king. So please, cooperate with them and speak favorably." "As the LORD lives," Micaiah replied, "I'll say what my God tells me to say." When Micaiah approached the king, the king asked him, "Micaiah, should we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I not?" "Go to war," Micaiah replied, "and you will be successful, because the LORD will hand it over to the king!" When he heard this, the king asked him, "How many times do I have to make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth? Now do it in the name of the LORD!" So Micaiah replied: "I saw all of Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep without a shepherd. And the LORD told me, "These have no master, so let them each return to his own home in peace.'" Then the king of Israel told Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you that he wouldn't prophesy anything good about me, but only evil?" But Micaiah responded, "Therefore, listen to what the LORD has to say. I saw the LORD, sitting on his throne, and the entire Heavenly Army was standing around him on his right hand and on his left hand. "The LORD asked, "Who will tempt King Ahab of Israel to attack Ramoth-gilead, so that he will die there?' And one was saying one thing and one was saying another. "But then a spirit approached, stood in front of the LORD, and said, "I will entice him.' "And the LORD asked him, "How?' ""I will go,' he announced, "and I will be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all of his prophets!' "So the LORD said, "You're just the one to deceive him. You will be successful. Go and do it.' "Now therefore, listen! The LORD has placed a lying spirit in the mouth of all of these prophets of yours, because the LORD has determined to bring disaster upon you." Right then, Chenaanah's son Zedekiah approached Micaiah and struck him on the cheek. Then he asked him, "How did the Spirit of the LORD move from me to speak to you?" Micaiah replied, "You'll see how when the day comes that you run away to hide yourself in a closet!" Then the king of Israel ordered, "Take Micaiah and place him in the custody of Amon, the city governor. Hand him over to Joash, the king's son. Give him this order: "Place him in prison on survival rations of bread and water only until I come back safely.'" "If you return alive," Micaiah responded, "then the LORD has not spoken by me." Then he added, "Listen, all you people!" So the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah both attacked Ramoth-gilead. The king of Israel suggested to Jehoshaphat, "I'll go into battle in disguise, but you keep your royal uniform on." So the king of Israel disguised himself and they both went into the battle. Meanwhile, the king of Aram had issued these orders to 32 of his chariot commanders: "Don't attack unimportant soldiers or ranking officers. Go after only the king of Israel." So when the chariot commanders observed Jehoshaphat, they said by mistake, "It's the king of Israel!" and they turned aside to attack him. But Jehoshaphat cried out. When the chariot commanders saw that their target was not the king of Israel, they stopped pursuing him. Meanwhile, somebody drew his bow aimlessly and struck the king of Israel between the scales where his armor breastplates joined, so he instructed his chariot driver, "Turn around and take me out of the battle, because I've been severely wounded." The battle continued on for the rest of the day while the king of Israel was propped up in front of the Arameans until the sun set, at which time he died. The blood from Ahab's wound ran down into the bottom of the chariot. As the day drew to a close, this order was circulated throughout the army telling the soldiers, "Everybody go back to his city and to his own land." So the king died and was brought back to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria. They washed the chariot by the reservoir of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood near where the prostitutes went to bathe, in keeping with the message that the LORD had spoken. Now as to the rest of Ahab's accomplishments, everything that he undertook, the ivory palace he built, and the cities that he built, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, are they not? That's how Ahab died, just as his ancestors had, and his son Ahaziah became king in his place.
Prayer » Importunity in » Elijah
So Elijah told the people, "I'm the only one left over as a prophet of the LORD, am I? But Baal's prophets number 450 men? So let them provide two oxen. They can choose one ox for themselves. Cut it up, lay it on top of some wood, but don't set fire to it. I will prepare the other ox and lay it on top of some wood, and I won't set fire to it. Then you can call on the name of your god, and I'll call on the name of the LORD. Let the God who answers by fire be our God!" "That's a good idea!" all the people shouted. read more.
So Elijah told the prophets of Baal, "Choose an ox for yourselves and you prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but don't set fire to the offering." So they took the ox that was given to them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from early morning until noon. "Baal! Answer us!" they cried. But there was no response. Nobody answered. So they kept on dancing around the altar that they had made. Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them: "Shout louder! "He's a god, so maybe he's busy. "Maybe he's relieving himself. "Maybe he's busy someplace. "Maybe he's taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up." So the prophets of Baal cried even louder and slashed themselves with swords and lances until their blood gushed out all over them, as was their custom. They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention. Eventually, Elijah told everybody, "Come here!" So everybody approached him, and he repaired the LORD's altar that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob's descendants, to whom the message from the LORD had come that "Israel is to be your name." So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the LORD. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he laid the wood in order, cut the bull into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood. "Fill four pitchers with water," he ordered. "Then pour them out on the burnt offering and the wood." "Do it a second time," he ordered. So they did it a second time. "Do it a third time," he said. So they did it a third time. The water ran down around the altar and completely filled the trench. As the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again." Right then the LORD's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench! When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!" But Elijah said, "Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don't let even one of them get away." So the people seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and executed them there. After this, Elijah told Ahab, "Get up and have something to eat and drink, because there's the sound of a coming rainstorm." So Ahab got up to get something to eat and drink while Elijah went back up to the top of Mount Carmel, where he bowed low to the ground and placed his face between his knees. Then he told his young servant, "Go and look toward the sea." So he went and looked out to sea. "Nothing there," he said. But Elijah told him to go back seven times. On the seventh look, he said, "Look! There's a cloud, a small one, about the size of a man's hand. It's coming up out of the sea!" "Get up and find Ahab!" Elijah said. "Tell him, "Mount your chariot and ride down the mountain so the storm doesn't stop you.'"
So Elijah told the prophets of Baal, "Choose an ox for yourselves and you prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but don't set fire to the offering." So they took the ox that was given to them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from early morning until noon. "Baal! Answer us!" they cried. But there was no response. Nobody answered. So they kept on dancing around the altar that they had made. Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them: "Shout louder! "He's a god, so maybe he's busy. "Maybe he's relieving himself. "Maybe he's busy someplace. "Maybe he's taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up." So the prophets of Baal cried even louder and slashed themselves with swords and lances until their blood gushed out all over them, as was their custom. They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention. Eventually, Elijah told everybody, "Come here!" So everybody approached him, and he repaired the LORD's altar that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob's descendants, to whom the message from the LORD had come that "Israel is to be your name." So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the LORD. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he laid the wood in order, cut the bull into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood. "Fill four pitchers with water," he ordered. "Then pour them out on the burnt offering and the wood." "Do it a second time," he ordered. So they did it a second time. "Do it a third time," he said. So they did it a third time. The water ran down around the altar and completely filled the trench. As the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again." Right then the LORD's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench! When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!" But Elijah said, "Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don't let even one of them get away." So the people seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and executed them there. After this, Elijah told Ahab, "Get up and have something to eat and drink, because there's the sound of a coming rainstorm." So Ahab got up to get something to eat and drink while Elijah went back up to the top of Mount Carmel, where he bowed low to the ground and placed his face between his knees. Then he told his young servant, "Go and look toward the sea." So he went and looked out to sea. "Nothing there," he said. But Elijah told him to go back seven times. On the seventh look, he said, "Look! There's a cloud, a small one, about the size of a man's hand. It's coming up out of the sea!" "Get up and find Ahab!" Elijah said. "Tell him, "Mount your chariot and ride down the mountain so the storm doesn't stop you.'"
Prayer » Prayer test proposed by elijah
Then you can call on the name of your god, and I'll call on the name of the LORD. Let the God who answers by fire be our God!" "That's a good idea!" all the people shouted. So Elijah told the prophets of Baal, "Choose an ox for yourselves and you prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but don't set fire to the offering." So they took the ox that was given to them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from early morning until noon. "Baal! Answer us!" they cried. But there was no response. Nobody answered. So they kept on dancing around the altar that they had made. read more.
Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them: "Shout louder! "He's a god, so maybe he's busy. "Maybe he's relieving himself. "Maybe he's busy someplace. "Maybe he's taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up." So the prophets of Baal cried even louder and slashed themselves with swords and lances until their blood gushed out all over them, as was their custom. They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention. Eventually, Elijah told everybody, "Come here!" So everybody approached him, and he repaired the LORD's altar that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob's descendants, to whom the message from the LORD had come that "Israel is to be your name." So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the LORD. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he laid the wood in order, cut the bull into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood. "Fill four pitchers with water," he ordered. "Then pour them out on the burnt offering and the wood." "Do it a second time," he ordered. So they did it a second time. "Do it a third time," he said. So they did it a third time. The water ran down around the altar and completely filled the trench. As the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again." Right then the LORD's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench! When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!"
Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them: "Shout louder! "He's a god, so maybe he's busy. "Maybe he's relieving himself. "Maybe he's busy someplace. "Maybe he's taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up." So the prophets of Baal cried even louder and slashed themselves with swords and lances until their blood gushed out all over them, as was their custom. They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention. Eventually, Elijah told everybody, "Come here!" So everybody approached him, and he repaired the LORD's altar that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob's descendants, to whom the message from the LORD had come that "Israel is to be your name." So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the LORD. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he laid the wood in order, cut the bull into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood. "Fill four pitchers with water," he ordered. "Then pour them out on the burnt offering and the wood." "Do it a second time," he ordered. So they did it a second time. "Do it a third time," he said. So they did it a third time. The water ran down around the altar and completely filled the trench. As the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again." Right then the LORD's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench! When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!"
Revivals » Instances of » Elijah
When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab asked him, "Is it really you, you destroyer of Israel?" But Elijah replied, "I'm no destroyer of Israel. But you and your ancestor's household have been doing that, because you have abandoned the LORD's commandments and have followed the Baals. So go gather all of Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. Bring along 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah who are funded at Jezebel's expense." read more.
Ahab sent for the Israelis and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel, where Elijah approached all the people and asked them, "How long will you keep hesitating between both sides? If the LORD is God, go after him. If Baal, go after him." But the people didn't say a word. So Elijah told the people, "I'm the only one left over as a prophet of the LORD, am I? But Baal's prophets number 450 men? So let them provide two oxen. They can choose one ox for themselves. Cut it up, lay it on top of some wood, but don't set fire to it. I will prepare the other ox and lay it on top of some wood, and I won't set fire to it. Then you can call on the name of your god, and I'll call on the name of the LORD. Let the God who answers by fire be our God!" "That's a good idea!" all the people shouted. So Elijah told the prophets of Baal, "Choose an ox for yourselves and you prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but don't set fire to the offering." So they took the ox that was given to them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from early morning until noon. "Baal! Answer us!" they cried. But there was no response. Nobody answered. So they kept on dancing around the altar that they had made. Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them: "Shout louder! "He's a god, so maybe he's busy. "Maybe he's relieving himself. "Maybe he's busy someplace. "Maybe he's taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up." So the prophets of Baal cried even louder and slashed themselves with swords and lances until their blood gushed out all over them, as was their custom. They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention. Eventually, Elijah told everybody, "Come here!" So everybody approached him, and he repaired the LORD's altar that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob's descendants, to whom the message from the LORD had come that "Israel is to be your name." So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the LORD. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he laid the wood in order, cut the bull into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood. "Fill four pitchers with water," he ordered. "Then pour them out on the burnt offering and the wood." "Do it a second time," he ordered. So they did it a second time. "Do it a third time," he said. So they did it a third time. The water ran down around the altar and completely filled the trench. As the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again." Right then the LORD's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench! When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!" But Elijah said, "Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don't let even one of them get away." So the people seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and executed them there.
Ahab sent for the Israelis and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel, where Elijah approached all the people and asked them, "How long will you keep hesitating between both sides? If the LORD is God, go after him. If Baal, go after him." But the people didn't say a word. So Elijah told the people, "I'm the only one left over as a prophet of the LORD, am I? But Baal's prophets number 450 men? So let them provide two oxen. They can choose one ox for themselves. Cut it up, lay it on top of some wood, but don't set fire to it. I will prepare the other ox and lay it on top of some wood, and I won't set fire to it. Then you can call on the name of your god, and I'll call on the name of the LORD. Let the God who answers by fire be our God!" "That's a good idea!" all the people shouted. So Elijah told the prophets of Baal, "Choose an ox for yourselves and you prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but don't set fire to the offering." So they took the ox that was given to them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from early morning until noon. "Baal! Answer us!" they cried. But there was no response. Nobody answered. So they kept on dancing around the altar that they had made. Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them: "Shout louder! "He's a god, so maybe he's busy. "Maybe he's relieving himself. "Maybe he's busy someplace. "Maybe he's taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up." So the prophets of Baal cried even louder and slashed themselves with swords and lances until their blood gushed out all over them, as was their custom. They kept on raving right through midday and until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, but there was still no response. Nobody answered, and nobody paid attention. Eventually, Elijah told everybody, "Come here!" So everybody approached him, and he repaired the LORD's altar that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob's descendants, to whom the message from the LORD had come that "Israel is to be your name." So Elijah used the stones to build an altar to the name of the LORD. But then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he laid the wood in order, cut the bull into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood. "Fill four pitchers with water," he ordered. "Then pour them out on the burnt offering and the wood." "Do it a second time," he ordered. So they did it a second time. "Do it a third time," he said. So they did it a third time. The water ran down around the altar and completely filled the trench. As the time for the evening offering arrived, Elijah the prophet approached and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I, your servant, have done all of this in obedience to your word. Answer me, LORD! Answer me so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning back their hearts again." Right then the LORD's fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench! When all the people saw what had happened, they fell flat on their faces and cried out "The LORD is God! The LORD is God!" But Elijah said, "Arrest the prophets of Baal. Don't let even one of them get away." So the people seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and executed them there.