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1-2For three years no rain fell in Samaria, and there was almost nothing to eat anywhere. The Lord said to Elijah, “Go and meet with King Ahab. I will soon make it rain.” So Elijah went to see Ahab.
3-4At that time Obadiah was in charge of Ahab's palace, but he faithfully worshiped the Lord . In fact, when Jezebel was trying to kill the Lord 's prophets, Obadiah hid 100 of them in two caves and gave them food and water.
Ahab sent for Obadiah
5and said, “We have to find something for our horses and mules to eat. If we don't, we will have to kill them. Let's look around every creek and spring in the country for some grass.
6You go one way, and I'll go the other.” Then they left in separate directions.
7As Obadiah was walking along, he met Elijah. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down, and asked, “Elijah, is it really you?”
8“Yes. Go tell Ahab I'm here.”
9Obadiah replied:
15Elijah said, “I'm a servant of the living Lord All-Powerful, and I swear in his name that I will meet with Ahab today.”
16Obadiah left and told Ahab where to find Elijah.
Ahab went to meet Elijah,
17and when he saw him, Ahab shouted, “There you are, the biggest troublemaker in Israel!”
18Elijah answered:
20Ahab got everyone together, then they went to meet Elijah on Mount Carmel.
21Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you try to have things both ways? If the Lord is God, worship him! But if Baal is God, worship him!”
The people did not say a word.
22Then Elijah continued:
“That's a good idea,” everyone agreed.
25Elijah said to Baal's prophets, “There are more of you, so you go first. Pick out a bull and get it ready, but don't light the fire. Then pray to your god.”
26They chose their bull, then they got it ready and prayed to Baal all morning, asking him to start the fire. They danced around the altar and shouted, “Answer us, Baal!” But there was no answer.
27At noon, Elijah began making fun of them. “Pray louder!” he said. “Baal must be a god. Maybe he's daydreaming or using the toilet or traveling somewhere. Or maybe he's asleep, and you have to wake him up.”
28The prophets kept shouting louder and louder, and they cut themselves with swords and knives until they were bleeding. This was the way they worshiped,
29and they kept it up until time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no answer of any kind.
30Elijah told everyone to gather around him while he repaired the Lord 's altar.
31-32Then he used twelve stones to build an altar in honor of the Lord . Each stone stood for one of the tribes of Israel, which was the name the Lord had given to their ancestor Jacob. Elijah dug a ditch around the altar, large enough to hold about 14 liters.[#Gn 32.28; 35.9-11.]
33He placed the wood on the altar, then they cut the bull into pieces and laid the meat on the wood.
He told the people, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it over the meat and the wood.” After they did this,
34he told them to do it two more times. They did exactly as he said
35until finally, the water ran down the altar and filled the ditch.
36When it was time for the evening sacrifice, Elijah prayed:
38The Lord immediately sent fire, and it burned up the sacrifice, the wood, and the stones. It scorched the ground everywhere around the altar and dried up every drop of water in the ditch.
39When the crowd saw what had happened, they all bowed down and shouted, “The Lord is God! The Lord is God!”
40Just then, Elijah said, “Grab the prophets of Baal! Don't let any of them get away.”
So the people captured the prophets and took them to Kishon River, where Elijah killed every one of them.
41Elijah told Ahab, “Get something to eat and drink. I hear a heavy rain coming.”
42Ahab left, but Elijah climbed back to the top of Mount Carmel. Then he stooped down with his face almost to the ground[#Jas 5.18.]
43and said to his servant, “Look toward the sea.”
The servant left. And when he came back, he said, “I looked, but I didn't see anything.” Elijah told him to look seven more times.
44After the seventh time the servant replied, “I see a small cloud coming this way. But it's no bigger than a fist.”
Elijah told him, “Tell Ahab to get his chariot ready and start home now. Otherwise, the rain will stop him.”
45-46A few minutes later, it got very cloudy and windy, and rain started pouring down. So Elijah wrapped his coat around himself, and the Lord gave him strength to run all the way to Jezreel. Ahab followed in his chariot.