1 Kings 19

1 And Ahab told Jezebel his wife everything Elijah had done, and how he had killed the prophets with the sword. 2 And Jezebel sent to Elijah and said, “If you are Elijah and I am Jezebel — may God do this to me, and more besides, if by this hour tomorrow I have not made your life like the life of one of them.” [a] 3 And Elijah was afraid, and he got up and went away for his life. He came to Beersheba in Judah, and he left his servant there; [b]

4 and he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a single broom bush. And he asked that his life might end, and said, “Enough now, Lord. Take my life from me, for I am no better than my fathers.” [c]

5 And he lay down and slept there under the bush; and someone touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” 6 And Elijah looked, and there at his head was a cake of spelt baked in the ashes, and a jug of water. And he got up and ate and drank, and turned over and lay down again. [d] 7 And the messenger of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat, for the journey is far too long for you.” [e] 8 And he got up and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, as far as Mount Horeb. †

9 And he went into the cave there and stayed the night. And the word of the Lord came to him, and he said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 And Elijah said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord Almighty, because the children of Israel have forsaken you. They have dug down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword, and I am left, I alone, and they are seeking my life, to take it.” [f]

11 And he said, “You are to go out tomorrow and stand before the Lord on the mountain. See — the Lord is passing by.” And a great strong wind, tearing the mountains apart and shattering the rocks before the Lord — but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake — but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire — but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, the sound of a thin breeze; and there was the Lord. [g]

13 And when Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his mantle and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. And a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” [h] 14 And Elijah said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord Almighty, because the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant. They have pulled down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword, and I am left, I alone, and they are seeking my life, to take it.”

15 And the Lord said to him, “Go, turn back on your road, and you will come to the way of the wilderness of Damascus. And you will anoint Hazael to be king over Aram. [i] 16 And Jehu son of Nimshi you will anoint to be king over Israel; and Elisha son of Shaphat, from Abel-meholah, you will anoint to be prophet in your place. [j] 17 And it will happen that the one who escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will put to death; and the one who escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will put to death. 18 And you will leave seven thousand men in Israel — every knee that has not bent to Baal, and every mouth that has not bowed down to him.”

19 And he went away from there, and found Elisha son of Shaphat, and he was plowing with oxen — twelve pairs of oxen ahead of him, and he himself with the twelve. And Elijah came over to him and threw his mantle on him. [k] 20 And Elisha left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Let me kiss my father, and I will follow after you.” And Elijah said, “Turn back — for I have done this to you.” [l] 21 And he turned back from following him, and he took the pairs of oxen and sacrificed them, and boiled them with the gear of the oxen, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he got up and went after Elijah and served him. [m]