1 Kings 18

18 ¹ After many days, in the third year, our Father's word came to Elijah: "Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land."

² So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria. ³ Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared our Father greatly. ⁴ While Jezebel was killing off our Father's prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets, hidden them fifty to a cave, and supplied them with bread and water.) ⁵ Ahab told Obadiah, "Go through the land to every spring and valley; maybe we'll find grass to keep the horses and mules alive and not lose any animals."

⁶ So they divided the land to cross it; Ahab went one way alone, and Obadiah went another way alone. ⁷ As Obadiah walked, Elijah suddenly met him. Recognizing him, he fell facedown and said, "Is it you, my lord Elijah?"

⁸ He said to him, "It is I. Go, tell your lord, 'Elijah is here.'"

⁹ Obadiah asked, "How have I sinned, that you'd hand your servant to Ahab to kill me?" ¹⁰ As your Father lives, there's no nation or kingdom where my lord hasn't sent to seek you. When they said, 'He isn't here,' he made the kingdom or nation swear they couldn't find you. ¹¹ And now you say, 'Go, tell your lord, "Elijah is here."' ¹² The moment I leave you, the Spirit of our Father will carry you off where I cannot know; then I come to tell Ahab, he cannot find you, and he kills me — yet I your servant have revered our Father since my youth. ¹³ Hasn't my lord been told 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 fed them bread and water? ¹⁴ And now you say, 'Go, tell your lord, "Elijah is here"' — and he will kill me!

¹⁵ Elijah said, "As the Father of heaven's armies lives, before whom I stand, today I will surely present myself to him."

¹⁶ So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. ¹⁷ When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, "Is it you, you troubler of Israel?"

¹⁸ He answered, "I haven't troubled Israel — you and your father's house have, by abandoning our Father's commandments and following the Baals." ¹⁹ So now send word and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, with the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table.

²⁰ So Ahab sent word among all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets at Mount Carmel. ²¹ Elijah approached all the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If our Father is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him." But the people did not answer him a word.

²² Elijah said to the people, "I alone remain a prophet of our Father, but Baal's prophets are four hundred fifty men." ²³ Give us two bulls. Let them pick one, cut it up, lay it on the wood, but set no fire under it; I will prepare the other, lay it on the wood, and set no fire under it. ²⁴ Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of our Father; the God who answers by fire is God." All the people said, "Well spoken."

²⁵ Elijah told Baal's prophets, "You're many, so pick one bull and prepare it first; then call on your god's name — but light no fire under it."

²⁶ So they took the bull given them and prepared it, and called on Baal's name from morning until noon: "Baal, answer us!" But there was no voice, no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

²⁷ At noon Elijah mocked them: "Shout louder! He's a god — maybe deep in thought, or relieving himself, or traveling; or asleep and needs waking."

²⁸ So they shouted louder and cut themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until blood gushed over them. ²⁹ When midday passed, they raved on until the evening offering, but there was no voice, no answer, no attention.

³⁰ Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me." They all came near, and he repaired the altar of our Father that had been torn down.

³¹ Elijah took twelve stones, one for each tribe of Jacob's sons, to whom our Father's word had come: "Your name shall be Israel."

³² With the stones he built an altar in our Father's name, and dug a trench around it big enough for fourteen quarts of seed. ³³ He arranged the wood, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, "Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and the wood." ³⁴ "Again," he said, and they did. "A third time," he said, and they did it a third time. ³⁵ The water ran all around the altar, and he even filled the trench with water.

³⁶ At the evening offering, Elijah the prophet approached 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. ³⁷ Answer me, our Father, answer me, so this people knows you, our Father, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.

³⁸ Then our Father's fire fell, consuming the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and licking up the water in the trench. ³⁹ When all the people saw it, they fell facedown and cried, "Our Father, he is God! Our Father, he is God!" ^a a v39 The people who had wandered after Baal fall down and name the true God — the Father drawing his straying children back to himself.

⁴⁰ Elijah told them, "Seize Baal's prophets; let none escape." They seized them, and Elijah took them down to the Kishon Valley and killed them there.

⁴¹ Then Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of the roar of heavy rain."

⁴² Ahab went up to eat and drink, while Elijah climbed Carmel's peak. There he bowed to the ground, his face between his knees. ⁴³ He told his servant, "Go up, look toward the sea." He went up, looked, and said, "Nothing there." Seven times Elijah said, "Go back."

⁴⁴ The seventh time, the servant said, "A little cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea." Elijah said, "Go up and tell Ahab, 'Hitch your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.'"

⁴⁵ Meanwhile the sky darkened with clouds and wind, a heavy rain came, and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. ⁴⁶ The hand of our Father was on Elijah; he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran ahead of Ahab to Jezreel's entrance.