Chapter 19
1Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had
killed all the prophets with the sword.
2Then Jezebel send a messenger to
Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I don’t make your
life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.
3When he saw
that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs
to Judah, and left his servant there.
4But he himself went a day’s
journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and
he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough; now, O
Yahweh, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
5He
lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, an angel touched him,
and said to him, Arise and eat.
6He looked, and behold, there was at his
head a cake baked on the coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drink, and
laid him down again.
7The angel of Yahweh came again the second time, and
touched him, and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for
you.
8He arose, and ate and drink, and went in the strength of that food
forty days and forty nights to Horeb the Mount of God.
9He came there to
a cave, and lodged there; and behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, and he
said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah?
10He said, I have been very
jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have
forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with
the sword: and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it
away.
11He said, Go forth, and stand on the mountain before Yahweh.
Behold, Yahweh passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and
broke in pieces the rocks before Yahweh; but Yahweh was not in the wind: and
after the wind an earthquake; but Yahweh was not in the earthquake:
12and
after the earthquake a fire; but Yahweh was not in the fire: and after the
fire a still small voice.
13It was so, when Elijah heard it, that he
wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entrance of
the cave. Behold, there came a voice to him, and said, What are you doing
here, Elijah?
14He said, I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of
Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down
your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am
left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
15Yahweh said to him, Go,
return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when you come, you
shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria;
16and Jehu the son of Nimshi
shall you anoint to be king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of
Abel Meholah shall you anoint to be prophet in your room.
17It shall
happen, that he who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu kill; and he
who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha kill.
18Yet will I leave
me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed to
Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him.
19So he departed there,
and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing, with twelve yoke of
oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed over to him,
and cast his mantle on him.
20He left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and
said, Let me, I pray you, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will
follow you. He said to him, Go back again; for what have I done to you?
21He returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, and killed
them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave to
the people, and they ate. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and
ministered to him.
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