Elijah Flees Jezebel
1 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I don’t make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow!”
3 Elijah was afraid, so he got up and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree. Then he prayed that he might die and said, “I’ve had enough! Now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
5 He lay down and slept under a juniper tree, and an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat!”
6 He looked, and there was, by his head, a cake baked on the coals and a jar of water. He ate and drank and lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, because the journey is too great for you.”
8 He got up, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food for 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb, the Mountain of God. 9 He came to a cave there and camped there, and the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
The Lord Speaks to Elijah at Horeb
10 He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of Hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are now seeking to take my life as well.”
11 He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.”
The Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake a fire passed, but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a still small voice. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. A voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
14 He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of Hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they seek my life.”
15 The Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. 16 Anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel, and anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah to be prophet in your place. 17 He who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill, and he who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. 18 Yet I reserved 7,000 in Israel, all the knees of which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him.”
The Call of Elisha
19 So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was next to the twelfth pair. Elijah went over to him and put his mantle on him. 20 Elisha left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, “Let me please 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?”
21 He returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and killed them and boiled their meat with the instruments of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he got up and followed Elijah and served him.