1After many days, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah. It said, "Go and show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth."
4When Jezebel was killing the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them, fifty in one cave and fifty in another, and gave them bread and water.)
5Ahab said to Obadiah, "Go through the land, to all the springs of water and all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass to keep the horses and mules alive, so that we do not lose all the animals."
6So they divided the land between them, to go through it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.
7As Obadiah was on the way, Elijah met him. Obadiah knew him, and fell on his face, and said, "Are you my lord Elijah?"
8He answered him, "I am. Go and tell your lord, 'Look, Elijah is here.'"
10As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to look for you. When they said, 'He is not here,' he made that kingdom and nation swear an oath that they had not found you.
11And now you say, 'Go, tell your lord, Elijah is here.'
12As soon as I have left you, the Spirit of the LORD will carry you away where I do not know. Then when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find you, he will kill me. But I, your servant, have feared the LORD from my youth.
13Was my lord not told what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD? I hid a hundred of the LORD's prophets, fifty in one cave and fifty in another, and gave them bread and water.
14"And now you say, 'Go, tell your lord, Elijah is here.' He will kill me."
15Elijah said, "As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today."
18He answered, "I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father's house. For you have left the commandments of the LORD, and you have followed the Baals."
19"Now then, send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of the groves, who eat at Jezebel's table."
20So Ahab sent word to all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel.
21Elijah came to all the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him. But if Baal is God, then follow him." And the people did not answer him a word.
22Then Elijah said to the people, "I, only I, am left as a prophet of the LORD. But Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men."
23So let them give us two bulls. Let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under it. And I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under it.
24"Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The God who answers by fire, let him be God." And all the people answered, "That is well said."
25Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one bull for yourselves, and prepare it first, for you are many. Call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under it."
26So they took the bull that was given to them, and prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, "O Baal, hear us." But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they leaped on the altar that was made.
27At noon Elijah mocked them and said, "Cry aloud, for he is a god. Perhaps he is talking, or he is busy, or he is on a journey. Perhaps he is asleep and must be woken."
28So they cried aloud, and cut themselves with knives and blades, as they were used to doing, until the blood gushed out on them.
29When midday was past, they went on prophesying until the time of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice, and no one answered, and no one paid attention.
30Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me." And all the people came near to him. Then he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.
31Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of the sons of Jacob. It was to Jacob that the word of the LORD had come, saying, "Israel shall be your name."
32With the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD. And he made a trench around the altar, big enough to hold two measures of seed.
33He laid the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. Then he said, "Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood."
34And he said, "Do it a second time." And they did it a second time. And he said, "Do it a third time." And they did it a third time.
35The water ran all around the altar, and he filled the trench with water too.
36At the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word."
37"Hear me, O LORD, hear me, so that this people may know that you are the LORD God, and that you have turned their heart back again."
38Then the fire of the LORD fell. It burned up the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
39When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, "The LORD, he is the God. The LORD, he is the God."
40Elijah 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 brook Kishon and killed them there.
42So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel. He bowed down to the ground and put his face between his knees,
43and said to his servant, "Go up now, and look toward the sea." He went up and looked, and said, "There is nothing." And Elijah said, "Go again seven times."
44At the seventh time the servant said, "Look, a little cloud is rising out of the sea, like a man's hand." And Elijah said, "Go up, say to Ahab, 'Get your chariot ready and go down, so the rain does not stop you.'"