After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year of the drought, saying, “Go, present yourself to Ahab; I will send rain on the earth.”

So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria.

Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace. (Now Obadiah revered the Lord greatly;

when Jezebel was killing off the prophets of the Lord , Obadiah took a hundred prophets, hid them fifty to a cave, and provided them with bread and water.)

Then Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the wadis; perhaps we may find grass to keep the horses and mules alive, and not lose some of the animals.”

So they divided the land between them to pass through it; Ahab went in one direction by himself, and Obadiah went in another direction by himself.

As Obadiah was on the way, Elijah met him; Obadiah recognized him, fell on his face, and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?”

He answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your lord that Elijah is here.”

And he said, “How have I sinned, that you would hand your servant over to Ahab, to kill me?

As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom to which my lord has not sent to seek you; and when they would say, ‘He is not here,’ he would require an oath of the kingdom or nation, that they had not found you.

But now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord that Elijah is here.’

As soon as I have gone from you, the spirit of the Lord will carry you I know not where; so, when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, although I your servant have revered the Lord from my youth.

Has it not been told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord , how I hid a hundred of the Lord 's prophets fifty to a cave, and provided them with bread and water?

Yet now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord that Elijah is here’; he will surely kill me.”

Elijah said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.”

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

When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?”

He answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but you have, and your father's house, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.

Now therefore have all Israel assemble for me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table.”
Elijah's Triumph over the Priests of Baal

So Ahab sent to all the Israelites, and assembled the prophets at Mount Carmel.

Elijah then came near to all the people, and said, “How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” The people did not answer him a word.

Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord ; but Baal's prophets number four hundred fifty.

Let two bulls be given to us; let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it; I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it.

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 is indeed God.” All the people answered, “Well spoken!”

Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many; then call on the name of your god, but put no fire to it.”

So they took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, crying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no answer. They limped about the altar that they had made.

At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud! Surely he is a god; either he is meditating, or he has wandered away, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”

Then they cried aloud and, as was their custom, they cut themselves with swords and lances until the blood gushed out over them.

As midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice, no answer, and no response.

Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come closer to me”; and all the people came closer to him. First he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down;

Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be your name”;

with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. Then he made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two measures of seed.

Next he put 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.”

Then he said, “Do it a second time”; and they did it a second time. Again he said, “Do it a third time”; and they did it a third time,

so that the water ran all around the altar, and filled the trench also with water.

At the time of the offering of the oblation, the prophet Elijah came near and said, “O Lord , God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding.

Answer me, O Lord , answer me, so that this people may know that you, O Lord , are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”

Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench.

When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord indeed is God; the Lord indeed is God.”

Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.” Then they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon, and killed them there.
The Drought Ends

Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of rushing rain.”

So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; there he bowed himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees.

He said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” He went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” Then he said, “Go again seven times.”

At the seventh time he said, “Look, a little cloud no bigger than a person's hand is rising out of the sea.” Then he said, “Go say to Ahab, ‘Harness your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’ ”

In a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind; there was a heavy rain. Ahab rode off and went to Jezreel.

But the hand of the Lord was on Elijah; he girded up his loins and ran in front of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

Joint Campaign with Judah against Aram

For three years Aram and Israel continued without war.

But in the third year King Jehoshaphat of Judah came down to the king of Israel.

The king of Israel said to his servants, “Do you know that Ramoth-gilead belongs to us, yet we are doing nothing to take it out of the hand of the king of Aram?”

He said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to battle at Ramoth-gilead?” Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, “I am as you are; my people are your people, my horses are your horses.”

But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the Lord.”

Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred of them, and said to them, “Shall I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” They said, “Go up; for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.”

But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no other prophet of the Lord here of whom we may inquire?”

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one other by whom we may inquire of the Lord , Micaiah son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he never prophesies anything favorable about me, but only disaster.” Jehoshaphat said, “Let the king not say such a thing.”

Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, “Bring quickly Micaiah son of Imlah.”

Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them.

Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron, and he said, “Thus says the Lord : With these you shall gore the Arameans until they are destroyed.”

All the prophets were prophesying the same and saying, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph; the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.”
Micaiah Predicts Failure

The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king; let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.”

But Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, whatever the Lord says to me, that I will speak.”

When he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we refrain?” He answered him, “Go up and triumph; the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.”

But the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord ?”

Then Micaiah said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep that have no shepherd; and the Lord said, ‘These have no master; let each one go home in peace.’ ”

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy anything favorable about me, but only disaster?”

Then Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord : I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, with all the host of heaven standing beside him to the right and to the left of him.

And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, so that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ Then one said one thing, and another said another,

until a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord , saying, ‘I will entice him.’

‘How?’ the Lord asked him. He replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then the Lord said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do it.’

So you see, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the Lord has decreed disaster for you.”

Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah came up to Micaiah, slapped him on the cheek, and said, “Which way did the spirit of the Lord pass from me to speak to you?”

Micaiah replied, “You will find out on that day when you go in to hide in an inner chamber.”

The king of Israel then ordered, “Take Micaiah, and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son,

and say, ‘Thus says the king: Put this fellow in prison, and feed him on reduced rations of bread and water until I come in peace.’ ”

Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me.” And he said, “Hear, you peoples, all of you!”
Defeat and Death of Ahab

So the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead.

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.

Now the king of Aram had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, “Fight with no one small or great, but only with the king of Israel.”

When the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “It is surely the king of Israel.” So they turned to fight against him; and Jehoshaphat cried out.

When the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.

But a certain man drew his bow and unknowingly struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate; so he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around, and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.”

The battle grew hot that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans, until at evening he died; the blood from the wound had flowed into the bottom of the chariot.

Then about sunset a shout went through the army, “Every man to his city, and every man to his country!”

So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; they buried the king in Samaria.

They washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria; the dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes washed themselves in it, according to the word of the Lord that he had spoken.

Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house that he built, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel?

So Ahab slept with his ancestors; and his son Ahaziah succeeded him.
Jehoshaphat Reigns over Judah

Jehoshaphat son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of King Ahab of Israel.

Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.

He walked in all the way of his father Asa; he did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord ; yet the high places were not taken away, and the people still sacrificed and offered incense on the high places.

Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel.

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his power that he showed, and how he waged war, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah?

The remnant of the male temple prostitutes who were still in the land in the days of his father Asa, he exterminated.

There was no king in Edom; a deputy was king.

Jehoshaphat made ships of the Tarshish type to go to Ophir for gold; but they did not go, for the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber.

Then Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships,” but Jehoshaphat was not willing.

Jehoshaphat slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of his father David; his son Jehoram succeeded him.
Ahaziah Reigns over Israel

Ahaziah son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of King Jehoshaphat of Judah; he reigned two years over Israel.

He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord , and walked in the way of his father and mother, and in the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.

He served Baal and worshiped him; he provoked the Lord , the God of Israel, to anger, just as his father had done.