ELIJAH


Taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (C) 1978 by the New 
York Bible Society, used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

1KI 17:1  Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As 
the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew 
nor rain in the next few years except at my word."

2  Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah:

3  "Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the 
Jordan.

4  You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you 
there."

5  So he did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east 
of the Jordan, and stayed there.

6  The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat 
in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

7  Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the 
land.

8  Then the word of the LORD came to him:

9  "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a 
widow in that place to supply you with food."

10  So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was 
there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, "Would you bring me a 
little water in a jar so I may have a drink?"

11  As she was going to get it, he called, "And bring me, please, a piece 
of bread."

13  Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. 
But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it 
to me, and then make something for yourself and your son.

14  For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'The jar of flour 
will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the 
LORD gives rain on the land.'"

15  She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every 
day for Elijah and for the woman and her family.

16  For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run 
dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.

18  She said to Elijah, "What do you have against me, man of God? Did you 
come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?"

19  "Give me your son," Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried 
him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed.

20  Then he cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy 
also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?"

21  Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the 
LORD, "O LORD my God, let this boy's life return to him!"

22  The LORD heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he 
lived.

23  Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the 
house. He gave him to his mother and said, "Look, your son is alive!"

24  Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God 
and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth."

18:1  After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to 
Elijah: "Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the 
land."

2  So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in 
Samaria,

7  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?"

8  "Yes," he replied. "Go tell your master, 'Elijah is here.'"

9  "What have I done wrong," asked Obadiah, "that you are handing your 
servant over to Ahab to be put to death?

10  As surely as the LORD 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.

11  But now you tell me to go to my master and say, 'Elijah is here.'

12  I don't know where the Spirit of the LORD 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 LORD since my youth.

13  Haven't you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the 
prophets of the LORD? I hid a hundred of the LORD'S prophets in two caves, 
fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water.

14  And now you tell me to go to my master and say, 'Elijah is here.' He 
will kill me!"

15  Elijah said, "As the LORD Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely 
present myself to Ahab today."

16  So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet 
Elijah.

17  When he saw Elijah, he said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of 
Israel?"

18  "I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. "But you and your 
father's family have. You have abandoned the LORD'S commands and have 
followed the Baals.

19  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."

20  So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on 
Mount Carmel.

21  Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver 
between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, 
follow him." But the people said nothing.

22  Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only one of the LORD'S prophets 
left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets.

23  Get two bulls for us. Let them 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.

24  Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of 
the LORD. The god who answers by fire--he is God." Then all the people 
said, "What you say is good."

25  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."

27  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."

36  At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and 
prayed: "O LORD, 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.

37  Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O 
LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

38  Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, 
the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

41  And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of 
a heavy rain."

42  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.

43  "Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant. And he went up and 
looked. "There is nothing there," he said. Seven times Elijah said, "Go 
back."

44  The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's 
hand is rising from the sea." So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up 
your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.'"

45  Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain 
came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.

19:1  Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had 
killed all the prophets with the sword.

2  So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with 
me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your 
life like that of one of them."

3  Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in 
Judah, he left his servant there,

4  while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a 
broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had 
enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors."

5  Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. All at once an angel 
touched him and said, "Get up and eat."

6  He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over 
hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

7  The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, 
"Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you."

8  So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled 
forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.

9  There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD 
came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

10  He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The 
Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put 
your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they 
are trying to kill me too."

11  The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the 
LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind 
tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the 
LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the 
LORD was not in the earthquake.

12  After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And 
after the fire came a gentle whisper.

13  When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out 
and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you 
doing here, Elijah?"

14  He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The 
Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put 
your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they 
are trying to kill me too."

15  The LORD said to him, "Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert 
of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram.

16  Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son 
of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.

17  Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha 
will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu.

18  Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel--all whose knees have not bowed 
down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him."

19  So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was 
plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth 
pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him.

20  Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. "Let me kiss my father 
and mother good-by," he said, "and then I will come with you." "Go back," 
Elijah replied. "What have I done to you?"

21  So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and 
slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave 
it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became 
his attendant.

21:17  Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite:

18  "Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He is now 
in Naboth's vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it.

19  Say to him, 'This is what the LORD says: Have you not murdered a man 
and seized his property?' Then say to him, 'This is what the LORD says: In 
the place where dogs licked up Naboth's blood, dogs will lick up your 
blood--yes, yours!'"

20  Ahab said to Elijah, "So you have found me, my enemy!" "I have found 
you," he answered, "because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes 
of the LORD.

21  'I am going to bring disaster on you. I will consume your descendants 
and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel--slave or free.

22  I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of 
Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused 
Israel to sin.'

23  "And also concerning Jezebel the LORD says: 'Dogs will devour Jezebel 
by the wall of Jezreel.'

24  "Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the 
birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country."

25  (There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the 
eyes of the LORD, urged on by Jezebel his wife.

26  He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites 
the LORD drove out before Israel.)

27  When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and 
fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly.

28  Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite:

29  "Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he 
has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will 
bring it on his house in the days of his son."

2KI 1:3  But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, "Go up and 
meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, 'Is it because 
there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the 
god of Ekron?'

4  Therefore this is what the LORD says: 'You will not leave the bed you 
are lying on. You will certainly die!'" So Elijah went.

5  When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, "Why have you 
come back?"

6  "A man came to meet us," they replied. "And he said to us, 'Go back to 
the king who sent you and tell him, "This is what the LORD says: Is it 
because there is no God in Israel that you are sending men to consult Baal-
Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not leave the bed you are lying 
on. You will certainly die!"'"

7  The king asked them, "What kind of man was it who came to meet you and 
told you this?"

8  They replied, "He was a man with a garment of hair and with a leather 
belt around his waist." The king said, "That was Elijah the Tishbite."

9  Then he sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. The 
captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said 
to him, "Man of God, the king says, 'Come down!'"

10  Elijah answered the captain, "If I am a man of God, may fire come down 
from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!" Then fire fell from heaven 
and consumed the captain and his men.

11  At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. The 
captain said to him, "Man of God, this is what the king says, 'Come down at 
once!'"

12  "If I am a man of God," Elijah replied, "may fire come down from heaven 
and consume you and your fifty men!" Then the fire of God fell from heaven 
and consumed him and his fifty men.

13  So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain 
went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. "Man of God," he begged, 
"please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your 
servants!

14  See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains 
and all their men. But now have respect for my life!"

15  The angel of the LORD said to Elijah, "Go down with him; do not be 
afraid of him." So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.

16  He told the king, "This is what the LORD says: Is it because there is 
no God in Israel for you to consult that you have sent messengers to 
consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Because you have done this, you will 
never leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!"

17  So he died, according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken. 
Because Ahaziah had no son, Joram succeeded him as king in the second year 
of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah.

2:11  As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot 
of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and 
Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.

9:25  Jehu said to Bidkar, his chariot officer, "Pick him up and throw him 
on the field that belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. Remember how you and I 
were riding together in chariots behind Ahab his father when the LORD made 
this prophecy about him:

26  'Yesterday I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, 
declares the LORD, and I will surely make you pay for it on this plot of 
ground, declares the LORD.' Now then, pick him up and throw him on that 
plot, in accordance with the word of the LORD."

27  When Ahaziah king of Judah saw what had happened, he fled up the road 
to Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him, shouting, "Kill him too!" They wounded him 
in his chariot on the way up to Gur near Ibleam, but he escaped to Megiddo 
and died there.

28  His servants took him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his 
fathers in his tomb in the City of David.

29  (In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king of 
Judah.)

30  Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she painted her 
eyes, arranged her hair and looked out of a window.

31  As Jehu entered the gate, she asked, "Have you come in peace, Zimri, 
you murderer of your master?"

32  He looked up at the window and called out, "Who is on my side? Who?" 
Two or three eunuchs looked down at him.

33  "Throw her down!" Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her 
blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot.

34  Jehu went in and ate and drank. "Take care of that cursed woman," he 
said, "and bury her, for she was a king's daughter."

35  But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her 
skull, her feet and her hands.

36  They went back and told Jehu, who said, "This is the word of the LORD 
that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: On the plot of 
ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel's flesh.

37  Jezebel's body will be like refuse on the ground in the plot at 
Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say, 'This is Jezebel.'"

2CH 21:12  Jehoram received a letter from Elijah the prophet, which said: 
"This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: 'You have not 
walked in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or of Asa king of Judah.

13  But you have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and you have 
led Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the 
house of Ahab did. You have also murdered your own brothers, members of 
your father's house, men who were better than you.

14  So now the LORD is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives 
and everything that is yours, with a heavy blow.

15  You yourself will be very ill with a lingering disease of the bowels, 
until the disease causes your bowels to come out.'"

MAT 11:14  And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to 
come.

16:14  They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and 
still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

17:3  Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with 
Jesus.

4  Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I 
will put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah."

10  The disciples asked him, "Why then do the teachers of the law say that 
Elijah must come first?"

11  Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things.

12  But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize 
him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son 
of Man is going to suffer at their hands."

MAR 9:4  And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking 
with Jesus.

12  Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all 
things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be 
rejected?

13  But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything 
they wished, just as it is written about him."

LUK 1:17  And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of 
Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the 
disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared 
for the Lord."

9:30  Two men, Moses and Elijah,

54  When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you 
want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?"

JOH 1:21  They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I 
am not." "Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No."

22  Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to 
those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"

23  John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one 
calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.'"

24  Now some Pharisees who had been sent

25  questioned him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor 
Elijah, nor the Prophet?"

ROM 11:2  God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don't you know 
what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah--how he appealed to God 
against Israel:

JAM 5:17  Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would 
not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

18  Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its 
crops.

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