The Shared Word Translation · Study & Discuss
1 Kings 19
Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and all about how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods do so to me, and more also, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like the life of one of them.”
He saw it, rose up, and went for his life. He came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came and sat down beneath a broom tree. He asked that he might die, saying, “Enough now, LORD. Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”
Then he lay down and slept beneath the broom tree. And look: an angel was touching him and said to him, “Get up. Eat.” He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. He ate and drank, then lay down again. The angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up. Eat, for the journey is too much for you.” So he got up, ate, and drank. In the strength of that food he went forty days and forty nights, as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.
There he came to the cave and spent the night there. And look: the word of the LORD came to him and said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life to take it.”
He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And look: the LORD was passing by. A great and powerful wind was tearing apart mountains and breaking rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire came a sound of thin silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle. He went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And look: a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life to take it.”
The LORD said to him, “Go, return by your way to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. “And you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel, and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. “The one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death; and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death. “But I will leave seven thousand in Israel: every knee that has not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
So he went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle over him. He left the oxen and ran after Elijah. He said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” He said to him, “Go back. For what have I done to you?” So he returned from following him, took the pair of oxen, and slaughtered them. With the equipment of the oxen he boiled their flesh and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he rose, went after Elijah, and served him.