1 Kings 18 — Read & Listen Online

The Father Sends Elijah to Ahab

Chapter 18.

After many days the word of our Father came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, "Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land."

So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria. Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared our Father greatly. For when Jezebel was killing off the prophets of our Father, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men to a cave, and kept them supplied with bread and water.) Ahab said to Obadiah, "Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys; perhaps we may find grass to keep the horses and mules alive, and not lose any of the animals."

So they divided the land between them to cross it; Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. As Obadiah was on the way, suddenly Elijah met him. He recognized him and fell on his face and said, "Is it you, my lord Elijah?"

He said to him, "It is I. Go, tell your lord, 'Elijah is here.'"

But Obadiah said, "How have I sinned, that you would hand your servant over to Ahab to put me to death?" As your Father lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. And when they said, 'He is not here,' he made the kingdom or nation swear they could not find you. And now you say, 'Go, tell your lord, "Elijah is here."' As soon as I leave you, the Spirit of our Father will carry you where I do not know; then when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me — though I your servant have feared our Father from my youth. Has it not been told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of our Father — how I hid a hundred of our Father's prophets, fifty men to a cave, and supplied them with bread and water? And now you say, 'Go, tell your lord, "Elijah is here"' — and he will kill me!

Elijah said, "As the Father of heaven's armies lives, before whom I stand, today I will surely present myself to him."

The Father Challenges Baal at Carmel

So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, "Is it you, you troubler of Israel?"

He answered, "I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father's house have — because you have abandoned the commandments of our Father and followed the Baals." Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table.

So Ahab sent word among all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets at Mount Carmel. Elijah came near to all the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If our Father is God, follow him; but if Baal is, follow him." But the people did not answer him a word.

Then Elijah said to the people, "I alone am left a prophet of our Father, but Baal's prophets are 450 men." Let two bulls be given to us. Let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it; and I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of our Father; and the God who answers by fire — he is God." And all the people answered, "It is well spoken."

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

So they took the bull that was given them and prepared it, and they called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, crying, "O Baal, answer us!" But there was no voice and no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, "Cry louder! He is a god, after all — perhaps he is deep in thought, or relieving himself, or away on a journey; or maybe he is asleep and must be awakened."

So they cried louder and cut themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until the blood gushed out over them. And when midday had passed, they raved on until the time of the evening offering, but there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.

Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me." And all the people came near to him, and he repaired the altar of our Father that had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of our Father had come, saying, "Israel shall be your name." With the stones he built an altar in the name of our Father, and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. ¹ He arranged the wood, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. Then he said, "Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood." "Do it again," he said, and they did it again. "Do it a third time," he said, and they did it a third time. The water ran all around the altar, and he even filled the trench with water.

The Father Answers by Fire

At the time of the evening offering, Elijah the prophet came near and said, "Our Father, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, our Father, answer me, so that this people may know that you, our Father, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back again."

Then the fire of our Father fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and cried, "Our Father, he is God! Our Father, he is God!" ²

Then Elijah said to them, "Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape." So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered them there.

The Father Sends the Rain

Then Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a roar of heavy rain."

So Ahab went up to eat and drink, while Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel. There he bowed down to the ground and put his face between his knees. He said to his servant, "Go up now and look toward the sea." So he went up and looked, and said, "There is nothing." Seven times Elijah said, "Go back again."

On the seventh time the servant said, "Look, a little cloud as small as a man's hand is rising out of the sea." Then Elijah said, "Go up and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down, before the rain stops you.'"

Meanwhile the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and a heavy rain fell; and Ahab rode off and went to Jezreel. And the hand of our Father was on Elijah; he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran ahead of Ahab all the way to the entrance of Jezreel.

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