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¹ And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.² Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the gods do [to me], and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time.³ And when he saw [that], he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which [belongeth] to Judah, and left his servant there.⁴ But 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 LORD, take away my life; for I [am] not better than my fathers.⁵ And as he lay and slept under a juniper-tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said to him, Arise [and] eat.⁶ And he looked, and behold, [there was] a cake baked on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he ate and drank, and laid himself down again.⁷ And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise [and] eat, because the journey [is] too great for thee.⁸ And he arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

⁹ And he came thither to a cave, and lodged there; and behold, the word of the LORD [came] to him, and he said to him, What doest thou here, Elijah?¹⁰ And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, I only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away.¹¹ And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks 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:¹² And after the earthquake a fire; [but] the LORD [was] not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.¹³ And it 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. And behold, [there came] a voice to him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?¹⁴ And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.¹⁵ And the LORD said to him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael [to be] king over Syria:¹⁶ And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint [to be] king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint [to be] prophet in thy room.¹⁷ And it shall come to pass, [that] him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.¹⁸ Yet I have left to [me] seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.

¹⁹ So he departed thence, 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 by him, and cast his mantle upon him.²⁰ And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and [then] I will follow thee. And he said to him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee?²¹ And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew 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.