1 Kings 19
1 Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, including how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah with this message: “May the gods do this to me, and more besides, if by this time tomorrow I have not made your life like the life of one of them.”
3 When he saw this, he got up and went off to save his life. He came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
4 He went a day’s journey into the wilderness and sat down under a broom bush. He asked to die and said, “Enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”
5 He lay down and slept under the broom bush. Suddenly, an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”
6 He looked, and there at his head was a loaf baked on hot stones and a jar of water. He ate and drank, then lay down again.
7 The angel of the LORD returned a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”
8 He got up, ate and drank, and strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
9 There he entered a cave and spent the night. Then the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, God of Hosts, because the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking to take my life.”
11 He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And the LORD was passing by: a great, strong wind split the mountains and shattered the 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.
12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a faint, quiet voice.
13 When Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his cloak, went out, and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, God of Hosts, because the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking to take my life.”
15 The LORD said to him, “Go, return by your way to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Aram.
16 Anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat, from Abel-meholah, as prophet in your place.
17 Whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill.
18 But I will leave seven thousand in Israel: every knee that has not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
19 Elijah set out from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen ahead of him; he was with the twelfth pair. Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak over him.
20 He left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Let me kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow you.” Elijah said to him, “Go and return; for what have I done to you?”
21 Elisha turned back from following him, took the pair of oxen, and sacrificed them. Using the oxen’s yoke as firewood, he cooked the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he got up, followed Elijah, and became his servant.
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