1 Kings 18: Obadiah, and Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel

In plain English: After many days, in the third year, the word of Yahweh came to Elijah: "Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land (literally: on the face of the ground)."

Good to know: Here the text gives the word of Yahweh to Elijah, so it is in gold. The text does not say from when "the third year" is counted. Luke 4:25 and James 5:17 say the sky was shut up "three years and six months".

In plain English: So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria.

In plain English: Ahab called Obadiah, who was over his household. (Obadiah feared Yahweh greatly.

In plain English: When Jezebel was killing off (literally: cutting off) Yahweh's prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty to a cave, and kept them supplied with bread and water.)

Good to know: This is the first verse that tells of Jezebel killing Yahweh's prophets. Obadiah tells it again in verse 13.

In plain English: Ahab said to Obadiah, "Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the brooks. Perhaps we will find grass and keep the horses and mules alive, so that we do not lose all the animals."

In plain English: So they divided the land between them to go through it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

In plain English: As Obadiah was on the way, there was Elijah, coming to meet him. Obadiah recognized him, fell on his face and said, "Is it you, my lord Elijah?"

In plain English: He answered him, "It is I. Go, tell your lord, 'Elijah is here.'"

In plain English: Obadiah said, "What sin have I done, that you would hand your servant over to Ahab to kill me?

In plain English: As Yahweh your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to look for you. When they said, 'He is not here,' he made that kingdom or nation swear that they had not found you.

In plain English: And now you say, 'Go, tell your lord, "Elijah is here."'

In plain English: As soon as I leave you, Yahweh's Spirit (or: wind) will carry you off to I do not know where. When I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me. Yet I, your servant, have feared Yahweh since I was young.

The Hebrew word: "Spirit" is ruach, which the dictionary gives as "wind; by resemblance breath ... by resemblance spirit". Obadiah fears that Yahweh's Spirit (or: wind) will carry Elijah away, and the text does not say this had happened before. In 2 Kings 2:16 the sons of the prophets say the same kind of thing: "Perhaps Yahweh's Spirit has taken him up".

In plain English: Was my lord not told what I did when Jezebel killed Yahweh's prophets? I hid a hundred of Yahweh's prophets, fifty to a cave, and kept them supplied with bread and water.

In plain English: And now you say, 'Go, tell your lord, "Elijah is here."' He will kill me."

In plain English: Elijah said, "As Yahweh of Armies lives, before whom I stand (or: whom I serve), I will surely show myself to him today."

In plain English: So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

In plain English: When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?"

The Hebrew word: "Troubler" is from akar, which the dictionary gives as "properly, to roil water; figuratively, to disturb or afflict". It is the word explained in the note on Joshua 7:26, the Valley of Achor. 1 Chronicles 2:7 calls Achan "Achar, the troubler of Israel". Elijah gives the word back to Ahab in verse 18.

In plain English: He answered, "I have not troubled Israel. You and your father's house have, because you have left Yahweh's commandments and have followed the Baals.

In plain English: So now send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table."

Good to know: "The Baals" (verse 18) and "Baal" are the god explained in the note on Judges 2:13, and "the Asherah" the goddess and her image explained in the note on Judges 6:25. Verses 22 to 40 speak only of the prophets of Baal; the text does not say more about the prophets of the Asherah.

In plain English: So Ahab sent word to all the people of Israel, and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel.

In plain English: Elijah came near to all the people and said, "How long will you waver (or: limp) between the two sides (or: two opinions, or: two branches; see the note)? If Yahweh is God, follow him; but if Baal, follow him." The people did not answer him a word.

The Hebrew words: "Waver" is pasach, which the dictionary gives as "to hop ... by implication, to hesitate; also (literally) to limp, to dance". It is the word for "pass over" in Exodus 12:13. "The two sides" is se'ippim, which the dictionary gives as "divided (in mind)". It is in only 3 verses of the Bible. The STEPBible meaning for this verse gives "the two crutches", and a related word, sa'iph, the dictionary gives as "a fissure (of rocks); also a bough". The old Greek translation in this collection (Brenton) has "How long wilt ye halt on both feet?"

What changes: Read as "two opinions", Elijah asks the people how long they will go back and forth in their minds between Yahweh and Baal. Read as "two branches" or "two crutches", he pictures them limping or hopping from one to the other. Either way, he tells them to follow one.

In plain English: Then Elijah said to the people, "I, I alone, am left as a prophet of Yahweh, but Baal's prophets are four hundred fifty men.

In plain English: Let them give us two bulls. Let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under it.

In plain English: You call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of Yahweh. The God who answers by fire, let him be God (or: he is God)." All the people answered, "What you say is good."

In plain English: Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, because you are many. Call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it."

In plain English: They took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, "Baal, answer us (this Bible: hear us)!" But there was no sound, and no one answered. They limped (or: danced) around the altar that had been made.

Good to know: "Limped" is pasach, the same word as "waver" in verse 21 (see the note there). This Bible says "leaped about"; the dictionary allows "to limp, to dance". The old Greek translation in this collection (Brenton) has "they ran up and down on the altar".

In plain English: At noon Elijah mocked them and said, "Call out loudly, for he is a god! Maybe he is deep in thought, or he has gone somewhere (or: gone aside to relieve himself; see the note), or he is on a journey. Perhaps he is asleep and must be woken up."

The Hebrew words: "Deep in thought" is siach, which the dictionary gives as "a contemplation; by implication, an utterance". "Gone somewhere" is sig, which the dictionary gives as "a withdrawal (into a private place)". It is in only this verse of the Bible. The old Greek translation in this collection (Brenton) has "he is meditating, or else perhaps he is engaged in business".

What changes: Read as this Bible has it, Elijah mocks Baal as a god who has gone off somewhere. Read with the dictionary's "into a private place", he mocks Baal as a god who has gone aside to relieve himself. For other places where the Hebrew speaks of this politely, see the notes on Judges 3:24 and 1 Samuel 24:3. Either way, these are Elijah's words, and the text says he mocked them.

In plain English: They called out loudly and cut themselves with swords and spears (this Bible: knives and lances), as was their custom, until the blood poured out over them.

The Hebrew word: "Cut themselves" is gadad, which the dictionary gives as "to crowd; also to gash (as if by pressing into)". The same word is in the law of Deuteronomy 14:1: "You shall not cut yourselves". The text says only that this was "their way" (or: their custom).

In plain English: When noon had passed, they went on prophesying until the time of the evening offering. But there was no sound, no one answered, and no one paid attention.

In plain English: Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me." All the people came near to him. He repaired the altar of Yahweh that had been torn down.

In plain English: Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of Yahweh had come: "Israel will be your name."

Good to know: Here the narrator gives the word Yahweh once spoke to Jacob, so it is in gold. God gave Jacob the name Israel in Genesis 35:10: "your name will be Israel". Jacob was first given the name in Genesis 32:28 (see the note there). The text says the twelve stones were for the number of the tribes.

In plain English: With the stones he built an altar in the name of Yahweh. Around the altar he made a trench as big as would hold two seahs of seed (or: as big as a field sown with two seahs of seed).

The Hebrew words: "Large enough to contain two seahs of seed" is word for word "like a house of two seahs of seed". A seah is a measure the dictionary gives as "a certain measure ... for grain".

What changes: Read as this Bible has it, the trench could hold two seahs of seed; the old Greek translation in this collection (Brenton) has "a trench that would hold two measures of seed". Read as a measure of land, it was as large as the ground sown with two seahs of seed, the way Leviticus 27:16 measures a field by "the sowing of a homer of barley". The text does not say more.

In plain English: He set the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. He said, "Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood."

In plain English: He said, "Do it a second time," and they did it a second time. He said, "Do it a third time," and they did it a third time.

In plain English: The water ran all around the altar, and he also filled the trench with water.

In plain English: At the time of the evening offering, Elijah the prophet came near and said, "Yahweh, God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.

Good to know: This is Elijah's own prayer, so it is not in gold. He calls on Yahweh as "the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel", using Jacob's name Israel, as in verse 31.

In plain English: Answer me (this Bible: hear me), Yahweh, answer me, so that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back again."

In plain English: Then Yahweh's fire fell and burned up the burnt offering, the wood, the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.

Good to know: The text says Yahweh's fire burned up the offering, the wood, the stones and the dust, and licked up the water. Fire also came out from before Yahweh and burned up the offering in Leviticus 9:24, and there too "all the people saw it" and "fell on their faces".

In plain English: When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, "Yahweh, he is God! Yahweh, he is God!"

Good to know: "Yahweh, he is God" is the answer to Elijah's question in verse 21 and his words in verse 24, "The God who answers by fire, let him be God". Moses used words like these in Deuteronomy 4:35: "Yahweh is God. There is no one else besides him."

In plain English: Elijah said to them, "Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!" They seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and killed them there.

In plain English: Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up (this Bible: get up), eat and drink, for there is the sound of a roaring rain (this Bible: abundance of rain)."

In plain English: So Ahab went up to eat and drink. Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground, and put his face between his knees.

In plain English: He said to his servant, "Go up now and look toward the sea." He went up and looked, and said, "There is nothing." Elijah said, "Go back (this Bible: go again)," seven times.

In plain English: The seventh time, the servant said, "Look, a small cloud, like a man's hand, is rising out of the sea." Elijah said, "Go up and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up (this Bible: get ready) and go down, so that the rain does not stop you.'"

In plain English: In a little while the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. Ahab rode off and went to Jezreel.

In plain English: Yahweh's hand was on Elijah. He tucked his cloak into his belt (literally: girded up his loins) and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.