Elijah and the prophets_of_Baal
1It did not rain for a long time and after 3 years the Lord said to Elijah: ‘You must go to King Ahab so that he can see you, and then I will send the rain.’
2Elijah went to meet King Ahab. At that time there was a famine in Samaria. 3Ahab called Obadiah. He was the leader of the people who worked in the palace. Obadiah always served the Lord with all his heart. 4When Jezebel killed the prophets of God, Obadiah hid 100 prophets in 2 caves, 50 prophets in each cave, and he gave them food and water. 5Ahab said to Obadiah: ‘You must go to all the fountains and all the valleys. Maybe you will find grass for my horses and mules so that they can stay alive. If you do not find any, we will have to kill some of the animals.’ 6Ahab and Obadiah divided the land and Ahab went one way and Obadiah went another way.
7On his way Obadiah met Elijah and when he saw who it was, he bowed down with his face to the ground and he asked: ‘Sir Elijah, is that really you?’ 8Elijah answered him and said: ‘Yes, it is I. Go and tell your king that I am here.’ 9Obadiah asked: ‘What sin have I done? Why do you want King Ahab to kill me? 10As sure as the Lord your God lives, my king has sent people to every land and nation to look for you. And when they said you were not there, he made them promise, and the Lord was their Witness, that they had not seen you. 11And now you say: “Go and tell your king that Elijah is here.” 12If I go away from you now, and the Spirit of God takes you away to another place and I do not know where you are, what will happen to me? If I tell Ahab you are here, and you are not here when he comes, he will kill me. You must know that I have served the Lord from the time I was young. 13Did they tell you what I did when Jezebel started to kill the prophets of the Lord? I hid 50 prophets in one cave and 50 prophets in another cave and I gave them food and water. 14And now you say I must go to my king and tell him that Elijah is here. Do you want him to kill me?’ 15Elijah said to Obadiah: ‘As sure as the Lord lives, who rules over all, the God for whom I work, you don't have to worry. Ahab will see me today.’
16Obadiah went to Ahab and he told him, and Ahab came to meet Elijah. 17When the king saw Elijah, he said: ‘Is that you, who bring trouble and death into the land_of_Israel?’ 18Elijah said to Ahab: ‘It is not I who bring trouble and death into the land_of_Israel. It is you and your family who did it when you stopped listening to the laws of God and when you started to serve the Baal idols. 19But now you must send messengers and tell all the leaders_of_Israel to come to Mount Carmel. The 450 prophets_of_Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table must also come.’
20King Ahab sent messengers to all the Israelites and he told those prophets to come to Mount Carmel. 21Elijah came and he stood in front of all the people of Israel and he asked them: ‘How long do you want to wait before you decide whom you want to serve? If the Lord is God, then you must serve Him. Or, if Baal is god, then you must serve him.’
But the people did not answer him. They kept quiet. 22Then Elijah said to the people: ‘I am the only prophet of God that is still here, but there are 450 prophets_of_Baal. 23Bring us 2 bulls. The prophets_of_Baal must choose one bull. They must cut the bull into pieces and put it on the wood on the altar, but they must not make fire on the altar. I will do the same with the other bull. I will put it on the wood and I will not make fire on the altar. 24Then the prophets_of_Baal must pray to their god, and I will pray to the Lord. The god who answers with fire, the god who makes the wood burn on the altar, He is the real God.’ All the people answered and said: ‘That is good.’
25Then Elijah said to the prophets_of_Baal: ‘You can choose one bull and prepare it first, because there are many of you. You must pray to your god, but you must not start a fire on your altar.’ 26The prophets_of_Baal took the bull that Elijah gave them, they prepared it and they prayed to Baal. They kept on praying from morning to noon and asked: ‘Baal, help us.’ But nothing happened, and no one answered. The prophets_of_Baal did not know what to do at the altar they had made. 27When it was noon, Elijah mocked them and said: ‘You must shout_louder because if Baal is a god, he must listen to you. Maybe he is trying to think, or maybe he is in the toilet or maybe he went for a walk. Maybe he is asleep and you must wake him up.’
28The prophets shouted_loudly and they did what they always did when they sacrificed to their idol. They cut themselves with swords and spears until they were red with blood. 29The afternoon went by and they continued praying until that evening but nothing happened. No one answered them and Baal did not listen to them.
When it was time that the priests always sacrificed the evening-offering, 30Elijah said to all the people: ‘Come here. Come to me.’ They came and Elijah built the altar of the Lord again. It was the altar that had been broken. 31He took 12 stones, one stone for each tribe, the descendants of the sons of Jacob, the man to whom the Lord had said: ‘Your name will be Israel.’ 32Elijah built the stones into the altar of the Lord, then he dug a channel around the altar. The channel was so deep that 2 seahs of seeds could go into it. 33Then he put the wood on the altar and he cut the bull into pieces and put it on top of the wood. 34Then Elijah said: ‘You must fill 4 big jars with water and pour it over the offering and over the wood.’ Elijah told them to do it again, and he said they must do it a 3rd time. 35The water ran down the altar and it filled the channel. 36Late that afternoon when it was time for the evening-offering, the prophet Elijah stood next to the altar and he said: ‘Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let everyone see today that You are the God in the land_of_Israel. Let everyone see that I am your servant and that it is You who have told me to do all these things. 37Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that all these people will know that You, Lord, are God and that it is You who change them and turn their hearts back to You.’
38The Lord then sent fire down and the fire burnt the offering and the wood and the stones and the ground and everything. There was no more water in the channel, and the channel was dry. 39When the people saw this, they all bowed down with their faces to the ground. They said: ‘The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God.’ 40Elijah said to them: ‘Catch the prophets_of_Baal. Not one of them must escape.’ They caught the prophets and Elijah took them to the Kishon River and he killed them there.
41Then Elijah said to Ahab: ‘Go, eat and drink because I can see a lot of rain coming.’ 42Ahab went home to eat and Elijah went to Mount Carmel. There he bowed down to the ground and he put his head between his knees. 43He told the young man with him: ‘Go up the mountain and look at the sea.’ The young man went up higher and he looked and said: ‘I see nothing.’ When he came back Elijah told the young man to go and look again. He did this 7 times. 44When the young man went for the 7th time, he came back and said: ‘There is a small cloud coming from the sea. The cloud is as big as my hand.’ Then Elijah said: ‘Go and tell Ahab he must get his horses and chariot ready and go, because later the rain will stop him and he will not get away.’
45While Elijah was saying that, the sky became dark with black clouds. There were strong winds and a lot of rain. Ahab got into his chariot and he went to the town of Jezreel. 46Then the power of the Lord made Elijah strong and young. He tied his clothes and he ran in front of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.
