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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>1 Kings 18 NIV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/1_kings/18.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/1_kings/18-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NIV</a> > 1 Kings 18</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../1_kings/17.htm" title="1 Kings 17">◄</a> 1 Kings 18 <a href="../1_kings/19.htm" title="1 Kings 19">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New International Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/niv/esv/1_kings/18.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="sectionhead">Elijah and Obadiah</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>After a long time, in the third year, the word of the <span class="name">Lord</span> came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.</p><p class="reg">Now the famine was severe in Samaria, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his palace administrator. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the <span class="name">Lord</span>. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>While Jezebel was killing off the <span class="name">Lord</span>’s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.) <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Ahab had said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to the ground, and said, “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>“Yes,” he replied. “Go tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’ ”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>“What have I done wrong,” asked Obadiah, “that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>As surely as the <span class="name">Lord</span> your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>But now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>I don’t know where the Spirit of the <span class="name">Lord</span> may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the <span class="name">Lord</span> since my youth. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>Haven’t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the <span class="name">Lord</span>? I hid a hundred of the <span class="name">Lord</span>’s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>And now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ He will kill me!”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>Elijah said, “As the <span class="name">Lord</span> Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today.”</p> <p class="sectionhead">Elijah on Mount Carmel</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>“I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the <span class="name">Lord</span>’s commands and have followed the Baals. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the <span class="name">Lord</span> is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”</p><p class="reg">But the people said nothing.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the <span class="name">Lord</span>’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the <span class="name">Lord</span>. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”</p><p class="reg">Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>So they took the bull given them and prepared it.</p><p class="reg">Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the <span class="name">Lord</span>, which had been torn down. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the <span class="name">Lord</span> had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>With the stones he built an altar in the name of the <span class="name">Lord</span>, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="That is, probably about 24 pounds or about 11 kilograms">a</a></sup></span> of seed. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-34.htm"><b>34</b></a></span>“Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.</p><p class="reg">“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-35.htm"><b>35</b></a></span>The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-36.htm"><b>36</b></a></span>At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “<span class="name">Lord</span>, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-37.htm"><b>37</b></a></span>Answer me, <span class="name">Lord</span>, answer me, so these people will know that you, <span class="name">Lord</span>, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-38.htm"><b>38</b></a></span>Then the fire of the <span class="name">Lord</span> fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-39.htm"><b>39</b></a></span>When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The <span class="name">Lord</span>—he is God! The <span class="name">Lord</span>—he is God!”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-40.htm"><b>40</b></a></span>Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-41.htm"><b>41</b></a></span>And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-42.htm"><b>42</b></a></span>So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-43.htm"><b>43</b></a></span>“Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked.</p><p class="reg">“There is nothing there,” he said.</p><p class="reg">Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-44.htm"><b>44</b></a></span>The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”</p><p class="reg">So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’ ”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-45.htm"><b>45</b></a></span>Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/18-46.htm"><b>46</b></a></span>The power of the <span class="name">Lord</span> came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.</p><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><A name="footnotes"></a><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">32</span> <span class="footnotebot">That is, probably about 24 pounds or about 11 kilograms</span><br><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><p class="ntext"><a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/version.htm">New International Version</a> (NIV)</p><p class="ntext2">Holy Bible, New International Version&reg, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by <a href="http://biblica.com">Biblica, Inc.</a>® Used by permission. 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