1 Kings 18

18 ¹After 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."

²So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria. ³Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared our Father greatly. ⁴While Jezebel was killing off our Father's prophets, Obadiah had taken one hundred prophets, hidden them fifty to a cave, and supplied them with bread and water.). ⁵Ahab 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."

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

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

⁹Obadiah asked, "How have I sinned, that you'd hand your servant to Ahab to kill me? ¹⁰As 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. ¹¹And now you say, 'Go, tell your lord, "Elijah is here."' ¹²The 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. ¹³Hasn't my lord been told what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of our Father—how I hid one hundred of our Father's prophets, fifty men to a cave, and fed them bread and water? ¹⁴And now you say, 'Go, tell your lord, "Elijah is here"'—and he will kill me!"

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

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

¹⁸He answered, "I haven't troubled Israel—you and your father's house have, by abandoning our Father's commandments and following the Baals. ¹⁹So 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."

²⁰So Ahab sent word among all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets at Mount Carmel. ²¹Elijah 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.

²²Elijah said to the people, "I alone remain a prophet of our Father, but Baal's prophets are 450 men. ²³Give 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. ²⁴Then 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."

²⁵Elijah 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."

²⁶So 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.

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

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

³⁰Elijah 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.

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

³²With the stones he built an altar in our Father's name, and dug a trench around it big enough for about fourteen quarts of seed. ³³He 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. ³⁴Do it again," he said, and they did it again. "Do it a third time," he said, and they did it a third time. ³⁵The water ran all around the altar, and he even filled the trench with water.

³⁶At 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. ³⁷Answer me, our Father, answer me, so this people knows you, our Father, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back."

³⁸Then our Father's fire fell, consuming the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and licking up the water in the trench. ³⁹When 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.

⁴⁰Elijah 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.

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

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

⁴⁴The seventh time, the servant said, "Look, 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.'"

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