1 Kings 19

1Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

2Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do, and more also, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like the life of one of them.”

3And he saw, and arose and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

4But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, and said, “It is enough; now, Yahweh, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”

5Then he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up, eat.”

6He looked, and behold, at his head was a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. He ate and drank and lay down again.

7Then the angel of Yahweh returned a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, because the journey is too much for you.”

8So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.

9There he came to the cave and spent the night there. And behold, the word of Yahweh came to him and said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

10And he said, “I have been very zealous for Yahweh, the God of hosts, because the sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they seek my life, to take it.”

11And he said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before Yahweh.” And behold, Yahweh was passing by, and a great and strong wind was tearing apart the mountains and shattering rocks before Yahweh, but Yahweh was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake, but Yahweh was not in the earthquake.

12And after the earthquake, a fire; Yahweh was not in the fire. And after the fire, a sound of a gentle whisper.

13And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak, and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

14And he said, “I have been very zealous for Yahweh, the God of hosts, because the sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they seek my life, to take it.”

15And Yahweh said to him, “Go, return by your way to the wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.”

16And you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel, and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.

17And it shall be that whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death.

18Yet I have left for myself seven thousand in Israel—all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.

19So he went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat, and he was plowing with twelve yoke-pairs before him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak over him.

20So he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will go after you.” And he said to him, “Go back, for what have I done to you?”

21Then he turned back from following him, took the pair of oxen, and sacrificed them. With the oxen’s equipment he boiled the flesh and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and served him.