1 Kings 19

¹And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

²Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me, and more also, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like the life of one of them.’

⁴But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a single broom tree. And he asked that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.’

⁵And he lay down and slept under a broom tree; and behold, an angel touched him and said to him, 'Arise, eat.'

⁶And he looked, and behold, at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again.

⁷And the angel of the LORD came again a second time, and touched him, and said, 'Arise, eat, for the journey is too great for you.'

⁸So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.

⁹And there he came to a cave and lodged there. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’

¹⁰And he said, 'I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it.'

¹¹And he said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.’ And behold, the Lord was passing by, and a great and strong wind tearing the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces 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.

¹²And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle whisper.

¹³And it came about, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’

¹⁴And he said, 'I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it.'

¹⁵And the Lord said to him, ‘Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.

¹⁶And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint as king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.

¹⁷And it shall come to pass that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death.

¹⁸Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.

¹⁹And he went from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he himself was with the twelfth. And Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him.

²⁰And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, 'Let me, please, kiss my father and my mother, and I will follow you.' And he said to him, 'Go, return, for what have I done to you?'

²¹And he returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, and sacrificed them, and with the equipment of the oxen he boiled their flesh, and gave it to the people, and they ate. And he arose and went after Elijah, and ministered to him.