Elijah Flees to the Wilderness

19 Then Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done, including the fact that he had killed all their prophets with the sword. ² So Jezebel sent a messenger to say to Elijah, “May the gods punish me severely and even double it, if by this time tomorrow I have not made your life like one of theirs.”

³ Elijah was afraid,^[a] and he ran for his life. He went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and he left his servant there. ⁴ But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. There he sat down under a broom tree, where he prayed that he would die. He said, “I’ve had enough, Lord. Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” ⁵ Then he lay down and went to sleep under the broom tree.

Suddenly an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”

⁶ Then he looked around, and near his head there was a loaf of bread baking on coals and a jar of water, so he ate and drank, and then he lay down again.

⁷ Then the angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, because the journey is too much for you.”

⁸ So he got up and ate and drank. Then, with the strength gained from that food, he walked for forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. ⁹ He came to a cave and spent the night there.

Then the word of the Lord suddenly came to him, saying, “Why are you here, Elijah?”

¹⁰ He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of Armies, but the people of Israel have abandoned your covenant. They have torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking to take my life.”

¹¹ Then the Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is passing by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains and shattered 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 there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.

After the fire there was a soft, whispering voice.

¹³ When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak, and he went out and stood at the entrance to the cave. Then a voice came to him and said, “Why are you here, Elijah?”

¹⁴ He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of Armies, but the people of Israel have abandoned your covenant. They have torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking to take my life.”

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came and go to the Wilderness of Damascus. When you get there, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram. ¹⁶ You will also anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel and 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 have preserved in Israel seven thousand whose knees have not bent to Baal and whose lips have not kissed him.”

Elijah Calls Elisha

¹⁹ So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. Elisha was doing the plowing with twelve teams of oxen in front of him, and he himself was driving the twelfth team. Elijah crossed over to him and threw his cloak over him. ²⁰ Then Elisha left the oxen and ran after Elijah. He said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother good-bye! Then I will follow you.”

Then Elijah said, “Go back! For what have I done to you?”

²¹ So Elisha turned back from following him. Then he took the team of oxen and slaughtered them. Using the equipment from the oxen as fuel, he cooked the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he got up, followed Elijah, and served him.