Elijah Runs for His Life
19 1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah with this message: "May the gods do so to me, and more also, if by this time tomorrow I have not made your life like the life of one of them."
3 Elijah was afraid, so he got up and ran for his life. He came to Beersheba in Judah and left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. He came and sat down under a solitary broom tree and asked that he might die. "I have had enough, my Father," he said. "Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers."
5 Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. Suddenly an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat."
6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 The angel of our Father came back a second time, touched him, and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you."
8 So he got up and ate and drank, and strengthened by that food he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of our Father.
The Father's Gentle Whisper
9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of our Father came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
10 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the Father of heaven's armies. The people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are seeking my life, to take it away."
11 Our Father said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before me, for I am about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore into the mountains and shattered the rocks before our Father, but he was not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake, but he was not in the earthquake.
12 After the earthquake came a fire, but our Father was not in the fire. And after the fire came the sound of a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak, went out, and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
14 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the Father of heaven's armies. The people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are seeking my life, to take it away."
15 Our Father said to him, "Go back the way you came, to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Aram. 16 Also anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will put to death, and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will put to death. 18 Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel — every knee that has not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him."
The Father Calls Elisha
19 So Elijah left there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth. Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha left the oxen and ran after Elijah. "Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye," he said, "and then I will follow you." "Go back," Elijah replied. "What have I done to you?"
21 So Elisha went back, took his yoke of oxen, and slaughtered them. He cooked the meat using the plowing equipment for fuel and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.