1 Kings 19

Elijah Runs, Finds God, and Calls Elisha

1 Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, and how he had wiped out all the prophets of Baal with the sword.

2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods hit me super hard, and even worse, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like one of theirs!”

3 Elijah got scared, dipped out, and ran for his life. He came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the desert. He found a broom tree, sat down under it, and prayed that he might die. He said, “Enough is enough, Lord! Just take my life, because I there is no better than my ancestors!”

5 Then he crashed out and slept under the broom tree. All of a sudden, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!”

6 He looked up, and right by his head was a cake baked on hot stones and a jug of water. He ate and drank, then crashed out again.

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

8 So he got up, ate and drank, and that food gave him strength for forty days and forty nights, all the way to Horeb, the mountain of God.

9 He went into a cave there and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

10 He said, “I have been super zealous for the Lord God of Armies, because the Israelites ditched Your covenant, tore down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they trying to take my life too!”

11 The Lord told him, “Go out and stand on the mountain in front of the Lord, because the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a huge, powerful wind ripped through the mountains and shattered 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, went out, and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?"

14 He said, “I have been super zealous for the Lord God of Armies, because the Israelites ditched Your covenant, tore down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they trying to take my life too!”

15 The Lord told him, “Go back the way you came, through the desert, to Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael as king over Aram.”

16 “Also anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-Meholah as prophet in your place.”

17 “Anyone who escapes Hazael’s sword, Jehu will kill. And anyone who escapes Jehu’s sword, Elisha will kill.”

18 “But I still got seven thousand real ones left in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

19 So Elijah left there and found Elisha son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth one. Elijah walked past him and threw his cloak on him.

20 Elisha immediately left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Let me kiss my pops and my mama goodbye, then I will follow you.” Elijah told him, “Go on, head back. But what have I done to you?”

21 So Elisha turned back from him, took a yoke of oxen, and sacrificed them. He used the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he got up, followed Elijah, and became his servant.