1 A long time afterward, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: "Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the land."
2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. The famine in Samaria was severe,
3 and Ahab had called Obadiah, the man in charge of the palace. (Obadiah feared the LORD greatly.
4 When Jezebel was killing off the LORD's prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty in each cave, and kept them supplied with bread and water.)
5 Ahab told Obadiah, "Go through the land to every spring and every wadi. Maybe we can find grass to keep the horses and mules alive, so we will not have to destroy any of the animals."
6 They split the land between them to go through it; Ahab went off in one direction by himself, and Obadiah in another by himself.
7 While Obadiah was on his way, Elijah suddenly met him. Obadiah recognized him, fell on his face and said, "My lord Elijah, is it really you?"
8 "It is," he told him. "Go and tell your lord, 'Elijah is here.'"
9 He said, "What sin have I committed, that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death?
10 As the LORD your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to look for you. Whenever they said, 'He is not here,' he made that kingdom or nation swear that they had not found you.
11 And now you tell me, 'Go and tell your lord, "Elijah is here!"'
12 As soon as I leave you, the Spirit of the LORD will carry you off to some place I do not know. Then I will go and tell Ahab, and when he does not find you, he will kill me. Yet I, your servant, have feared the LORD since I was young.
13 Was my lord not told what I did when Jezebel was killing the LORD's prophets? How I hid a hundred of the LORD's prophets, fifty in each cave, and kept them supplied with bread and water?
14 And now you tell me, 'Go and tell your lord, "Elijah is here!"' He will kill me!"
15 Elijah said, "As the LORD of hosts lives, in whose presence I stand, today I will present myself to him."
16 So Obadiah went off to meet Ahab and informed him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah.
17 As soon as Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, "Is it you, the one who brings trouble on Israel?"
18 He answered, "It is not I who have brought trouble on Israel, but you and your father's house, by abandoning the LORD's commandments and following the Baals.
19 Now send word and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, along with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table."
20 Ahab sent word among all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets at Mount Carmel.
21 Elijah approached all the people and said, "How long will you go limping between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; if Baal is, follow him." The people did not answer him a word.
22 Elijah said to the people, "I alone remain as a prophet of the LORD, while Baal's prophets number four hundred and fifty men.
23 Have two bulls given to us. Let them pick one bull for themselves, cut it up and place it on the wood, but set no fire under it. I will prepare the other bull and place it on the wood, and I will set no fire under it.
24 Then you will call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The God who answers with fire, he is God." All the people answered, "That is a good proposal."
25 Elijah told the prophets of Baal, "Pick one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, since there are many of you. Call on the name of your god, but set no fire under it."
26 They took the bull given to them, prepared it and called on Baal's name from morning till noon: "Baal, answer us!" But there was no sound, and no one answered. They kept hopping around the altar they had made.
27 When noon came, Elijah began to taunt them: "Shout louder! He is a god, after all. Maybe he is deep in thought, or he has stepped aside, or he is off on a trip. Maybe he is asleep and has to be woken up!"
28 They shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their practice, until blood poured over them.
29 Noon passed, and they raved on until the hour for offering the evening offering, but there was no sound, no one answering, no one paying heed.
30 Then Elijah told all the people, "Come over to me." All the people came over to him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD, which had been torn down.
31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each tribe of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come: "Israel will be your name."
32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD, and around the altar he dug a trench large enough to hold two seahs of seed.
33 He arranged the wood, cut up the bull and placed it on the wood. Then he said, "Fill four jars with water and pour it over the burnt offering and the wood."
34 "Do it again," he said, and they did it again. "Do it a third time," he said, and they did it a third time.
35 The water flowed all around the altar, and he filled the trench with water as well.
36 At the hour for offering the evening offering, Elijah the prophet stepped forward and said, "LORD, 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 command.
37 Answer me, LORD, answer me, so this people will know that you, LORD, are God, and that it is you who have turned their hearts back."
38 The fire of the LORD fell and burned up the burnt offering, the wood, the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water in the trench.
39 When all the people saw this, they fell face down and said, "The LORD, he is God! The LORD, he is God!"
40 Elijah told them, "Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them get away!" They seized them, and Elijah took them down to the Wadi Kishon and slaughtered them there.
41 Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a roaring rain."
42 So Ahab went up to eat and drink, while Elijah went up to the top of Carmel. He crouched down to the ground and put his face between his knees.
43 "Go up and look out toward the sea," he told his servant. He went up, looked and said, "There is nothing." Seven times Elijah said, "Go back."
44 The seventh time he said, "There is a cloud as small as a man's hand coming up from the sea." Elijah said, "Go up and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain holds you back.'"
45 Meanwhile the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and heavy rain came. Ahab rode off and went to Jezreel.
46 The hand of the LORD came upon Elijah; he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.