1 Kings 14 - 18 — Legacy Standard Bible

The House of Jeroboam Is Cut Off

14At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick. ²And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Arise now, and ^adisguise yourself so that they will not know that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to ^bShiloh; behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who ^cspoke concerning me that I would be king over this people. ³“^aAnd take ten loaves with you, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.”

⁴Then Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose and went to ^aShiloh, and came to the house of ^bAhijah. Now Ahijah could not see, ^cfor his eyes had ¹set because of his old age. ⁵Now Yahweh had said to Ahijah, “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to ¹inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. You shall say thus and thus to her, for it will be when she arrives that ^ashe will pretend to be another woman.”

⁶Now it happened as Ahijah heard the sound of her feet coming in the doorway, that he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam, why do you pretend to be another woman? For I am sent to you with a harsh message. ⁷“Go, say to Jeroboam, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “^aBecause I exalted you from among the people and made you ruler over My people Israel, ⁸and ^atore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you—^byet you have not been like My servant David, who kept My commandments and who walked after Me with all his heart, ^cto do only that which was right in My sight; ⁹you also have done more evil than all who were before you, and ^ahave gone and made for yourself other gods and ^bmolten images to provoke Me to anger, and have ^ccast Me behind your back— ¹⁰therefore behold, I am bringing evil on the house of Jeroboam: I ^awill cut off from Jeroboam ¹every male person, ^bboth bond and free in Israel, and I ^cwill make a clean sweep of the house of Jeroboam, as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone. ¹¹“^aAnyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs will eat. And he who dies in the field the birds of the sky will eat; for Yahweh has spoken it.”’ ¹²“But you, arise, go to your house. ^aWhen your feet enter the city the child will die. ¹³“And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for ¹he alone of Jeroboam’s family will come to the grave, because in him ^asomething good was found toward Yahweh, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. ¹⁴“Moreover, ^aYahweh will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam this day ¹and from now on.

¹⁵“So Yahweh will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and ^aHe will uproot Israel from ^bthis good land which He gave to their fathers, and ^cwill scatter them beyond the ¹River, ^dbecause they have made their ²Asherim, provoking Yahweh to anger. ¹⁶“And He will give Israel over ^aon account of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and with which he made Israel to sin.”

¹⁷Then Jeroboam’s wife arose and went away and came to ^aTirzah. ^bAs she was entering the threshold of the house, the child died. ¹⁸^aAnd all Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to the word of Yahweh which He spoke through His servant Ahijah the prophet.

The Death of Jeroboam

¹⁹Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, ^ahow he made war and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ²⁰Now the time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years; and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son became king in his place.

Rehoboam Reigns over Judah

²¹^aNow Rehoboam the son of Solomon became king in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, ^bthe city which Yahweh had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put His name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. ²²^aAnd Judah did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and they ^bprovoked Him to jealousy more than all that their fathers had done, with ¹the sins which they sinned. ²³They also built for themselves ^ahigh places and sacred ^bpillars and ¹^,^cAsherim on every high hill and ^dbeneath every green tree. ²⁴There were also ^amale cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which Yahweh dispossessed before the sons of Israel.

²⁵^aNow it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. ²⁶And he took the treasures of the house of Yahweh and the treasures of the king’s house. And ^ahe took everything; he ^beven took all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. ²⁷Then King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place and ^acommitted them into the hand of the commanders of the ¹guard who kept the door of the king’s house. ²⁸Now it happened as often as the king entered the house of Yahweh, that the ¹guards would carry them and would bring them back into the ²guards’ room.

The Death of Rehoboam

²⁹^aNow the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ³⁰^aNow there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. ³¹And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and ^ahis mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. And Abijam his son became king in his place.

Abijam Reigns over Judah

15^aNow in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah. ²He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was ¹^,^aMaacah the daughter of ²^,^bAbishalom. ³And he walked in all the sins of his father which he had committed before him; and ^ahis heart was not ¹wholly devoted to Yahweh his God, like the heart of his father David. ⁴But for David’s sake Yahweh his God gave him a ^alamp in Jerusalem, to raise up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem; ⁵^abecause David did what was right in the sight of Yahweh, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, ^bexcept in the case of Uriah the Hittite. ⁶^aNow there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.

⁷Now ^athe rest of the acts of Abijam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ^bAnd there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. ⁸^aAnd Abijam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son became king in his place.

Asa Reigns over Judah

⁹Now in the twentieth year of Jeroboam the king of Israel, Asa began to reign as king of Judah. ¹⁰And he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem; and ^ahis mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. ¹¹^aAnd Asa did what was right in the sight of Yahweh, like David his father. ¹²^aHe also put away the male cult prostitutes from the land and ^bremoved all the idols which his fathers had made. ¹³¹^,^aHe also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother, because she had made a horrid image ²for Asherah; and Asa cut down her horrid image and ^bburned it at the brook Kidron. ¹⁴^aBut the high places were not removed; nevertheless ^bthe heart of Asa was ¹wholly devoted to Yahweh all his days. ¹⁵^aAnd he brought into the house of Yahweh the holy things of his father and his own holy things: silver and gold and utensils.

Asa Wars Against Baasha

¹⁶^aNow there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. ¹⁷^aAnd Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and ^bbuilt up Ramah ^cin order to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah. ¹⁸Then ^aAsa took all the silver and the gold which were left in the treasuries of the house of Yahweh and the treasuries of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants. And ^bKing Asa sent them to Ben-hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Aram, who lived in ^cDamascus, saying, ¹⁹“Let there be a ^acovenant between ¹you and me, as between my father and your father. Behold, I have sent you a gift of silver and gold; go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me.” ²⁰So Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his military force against the cities of Israel, and struck down ^aIjon, ^bDan, ^cAbel-beth-maacah and all ^dChinneroth, besides all the land of Naphtali. ²¹Now it happened that when Baasha heard of it, ^ahe ceased building up Ramah and remained in ^bTirzah. ²²Then King Asa caused an announcement to be heard throughout all Judah—none was exempt—and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building. And King Asa built with them ^aGeba of Benjamin and Mizpah.

²³^aNow the rest of all the acts of Asa and all his might and all that he did and the cities which he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet. ²⁴And Asa slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and ^aJehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.

Nadab Reigns over Israel

²⁵Now ^aNadab the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. ²⁶And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and ^awalked in the way of his father and ^bin his sin which he made Israel sin. ²⁷Then ^aBaasha the son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against him, and Baasha struck him down at ^bGibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon.

²⁸So Baasha put him to death in the third year of Asa king of Judah and became king in his place. ²⁹Now it happened that as soon as he was king, he struck down all the household of Jeroboam. He did not leave to Jeroboam anyone who drew breath, until he had destroyed them, ^aaccording to the word of Yahweh, which He spoke by the hand of His servant Ahijah the Shilonite, ³⁰and because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and ^awhich he made Israel sin, because of his provocation with which he provoked Yahweh, the God of Israel, to anger.

³¹^aNow the rest of the acts of Nadab and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ³²^aNow there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

Baasha Reigns over Israel

³³In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah became king over all Israel at Tirzah, and reigned twenty-four years. ³⁴And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and ^awalked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin which he made Israel sin.

16Now the word of Yahweh came to ^aJehu the son of ^bHanani against Baasha, saying, ²“Inasmuch as I ^aexalted you from the dust and made you ruler over My people Israel, and ^byou have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made My people Israel sin, provoking Me to anger with their sins, ³behold, ^aI am going to sweep away ^bBaasha and his house, and ^cI will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. ⁴“^aAnyone of Baasha who dies in the city the dogs will eat, and anyone of his who dies in the field the birds of the sky will eat.”

⁵^aNow the rest of the acts of Baasha and what he did and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ⁶And Baasha slept with his fathers and was buried in ^aTirzah, and Elah his son became king in his place. ⁷Moreover, the word of Yahweh through the hand of ^athe prophet Jehu the son of Hanani also came about against Baasha and his household, both because of all the evil which he did in the sight of Yahweh, provoking Him to anger with ^bthe work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because ^che struck ¹it.

Elah Reigns over Israel

⁸In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha became king over Israel at Tirzah, and reigned two years. ⁹And his servant ^aZimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him. Now he was at Tirzah drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, ^bwho was over the household at Tirzah. ¹⁰Then Zimri went in and struck him and put him to death in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and became king in his place. ¹¹Now it happened when he became king, as soon as he sat on his throne, that ^ahe struck down all the household of Baasha; he did not leave ¹a single male—not even any of his kinsman redeemers or his friends.

¹²Thus Zimri destroyed all the household of Baasha, ^aaccording to the word of Yahweh, which He spoke against Baasha by the hand of ^bJehu the prophet, ¹³for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and which they made Israel sin, ^aprovoking Yahweh, the God of Israel, to anger with their ¹idols. ¹⁴^aNow the rest of the acts of Elah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

Zimri Reigns over Israel

¹⁵In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days at Tirzah. Now the people were camped against ^aGibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. ¹⁶And the people who were camped heard ¹it said, “Zimri has conspired and has also struck down the king.” Therefore all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp. ¹⁷Then Omri and all Israel with him went up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirzah. ¹⁸Now it happened that when Zimri saw that the city was captured, he went into the citadel of the king’s house and burned the king’s house over him with fire, and ^adied, ¹⁹because of his sins which he sinned, doing what is evil in the sight of Yahweh, ^awalking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, making Israel sin. ²⁰^aNow the rest of the acts of Zimri and his conspiracy which he ¹carried out, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

Omri Reigns over Israel

²¹Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king; the other half followed Omri. ²²But the people who followed Omri prevailed over the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. And Tibni died and Omri became king. ²³In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel and reigned twelve years; he reigned six years at ^aTirzah. ²⁴And he bought the hill ¹Samaria from Shemer for two ²talents of silver; and he built on the hill, and named the city which he built ³^,^aSamaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.

²⁵^aAnd Omri did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and ^bacted more wickedly than all who were before him. ²⁶For he ^awalked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and in his sins which he made Israel sin, provoking Yahweh, the God of Israel, to anger with their ¹idols. ²⁷Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did and his might which he ¹showed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ²⁸So Omri slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria; and Ahab his son became king in his place.

Ahab Reigns over Israel

²⁹Now Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. ³⁰And Ahab the son of Omri did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh ^amore than all who were before him.

³¹Now it happened, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that ^ahe took Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the ^bSidonians as a wife, and went and served Baal and worshiped him. ³²So he erected an altar for Baal in ^athe house of Baal which he built in Samaria. ³³Ahab also made ^athe ¹Asherah. Thus ^bAhab did more to provoke Yahweh, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. ³⁴^aIn his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundations with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of Yahweh, which He spoke by the hand of Joshua the son of Nun.

A Widow Sustains Elijah

17Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of ¹^,^athe settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “^bAs Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, surely ^cthere shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” ²Then the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, ³“Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is ¹east of the Jordan. ⁴“And it will be that you will drink of the brook, and ^aI have commanded the ravens to sustain you there.” ⁵So he went and did according to the word of Yahweh, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is ¹east of the Jordan. ⁶And the ravens were bringing him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. ⁷Now it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

⁸Then the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, ⁹“Arise, go to ^aZarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and remain there; behold, ^bI have commanded a widow there to sustain you.” ¹⁰So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and ^ahe called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a ¹jar, that I may drink.” ¹¹So she went to get it, and he called to her and said, “Please get me a piece of bread in your hand.” ¹²But she said, “^aAs Yahweh your God lives, ^bI have no ¹bread, only a handful of flour in the ²bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering ³a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and ^cdie.” ¹³Then Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from ¹it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. ¹⁴“For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘The ¹bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil ²be empty, until the day that Yahweh sends rain on the face of the earth.’” ¹⁵So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. ¹⁶The ¹bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil ²become empty, according to the word of Yahweh which He spoke by the hand of Elijah.

Yahweh Returns Life to the Widow’s Son

¹⁷Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. ¹⁸So she said to Elijah, “^aWhat do I have to do with you, O ^bman of God? ¹You have come to me to bring my iniquity to remembrance and to put my son to death!” ¹⁹And he said to her, “Give me your son.” Then he took him from her bosom and carried him up to the upper room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed. ²⁰Then he called to Yahweh and said, “O Yahweh my God, have You also brought calamity to the widow with whom I am sojourning, by causing her son to die?” ²¹^aThen he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called to Yahweh and said, “O Yahweh my God, I pray You, let this child’s life return ¹to him.” ²²And Yahweh heard the voice of Elijah, ^aand the life of the child returned ¹to him and he became alive. ²³Then Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” ²⁴Then the woman said to Elijah, “^aNow I know this: that you are a man of God and that the word of Yahweh in your mouth is truth.”

Obadiah Meets Elijah

18Now it happened ^aafter many days that the word of Yahweh came to Elijah in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and ^bI will send rain on the face of the earth.” ²So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria. ³And Ahab called Obadiah ^awho was over the household. (Now Obadiah ¹^,^bfeared Yahweh greatly. ⁴And it happened that ^awhen Jezebel was cutting down the prophets of Yahweh, Obadiah took one hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave, and ^bsustained them with bread and water.) ⁵Then Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys; perhaps we will find grass and keep the horses and mules alive, and not have to cut down some of the cattle.” ⁶So they divided the land between them to pass through it; Ahab went one way by himself and Obadiah went another way by himself.

⁷Now it happened that as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah ¹met him, ^aand he recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is this you, Elijah my master?” ⁸And he said to him, “It is I. Go, say to your master, ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’” ⁹And he said, “What ¹sin have I committed, that you are giving your servant into the hand of Ahab to put me to death? ¹⁰“^aAs Yahweh your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent to search for you; and if they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made the kingdom or nation swear that they could not find you. ¹¹“And now you are saying, ‘Go, say to your master, “Behold, Elijah is here.”’ ¹²“And it will be that when I leave you, ^athe Spirit of Yahweh will carry you where I do not know; and I will come and tell Ahab, and he will not find you, and he will kill me, although I your servant have ¹feared Yahweh from my youth. ¹³“^aHas it not been told to my master what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of Yahweh, that I hid ¹one hundred prophets of Yahweh by fifties in a cave, and sustained them with bread and water? ¹⁴“So now you are saying, ‘Go, say to your master, “Behold, Elijah is here”’; he will then kill me.” ¹⁵And Elijah said, “^aAs Yahweh of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.” ¹⁶So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

¹⁷Now it happened when Ahab saw Elijah, that ^aAhab said to him, “Is this you, you troubler of Israel?” ¹⁸And he said, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because ^ayou have forsaken the commandments of Yahweh and ^byou have followed the Baals. ¹⁹“So now then send and gather to me all Israel at ^aMount Carmel, ^btogether with 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of ^cthe Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

Yahweh or Baal on Mount Carmel

²⁰So Ahab sent a message among all the sons of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. ²¹And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “^aHow long will you be limping between two opinions? ^bIf Yahweh is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him a word. ²²Then Elijah said to the people, “I ^aalone am left a prophet of Yahweh, but Baal’s prophets are ^b450 men. ²³“Now let them give us two oxen; and let them choose one ox for themselves and cut it up, and place it on the wood, but place no fire under it; and I will prepare the other ox and put it on the wood, and I will not place fire under it. ²⁴“Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of Yahweh, and ^athe God who answers by fire, He is God.” And all the people answered and said, “¹That is a good word.”

²⁵So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one ox for yourselves and prepare it first for you are many, and call on the name of your god, but place no fire under it.” ²⁶Then they took the ox which ¹was given them and they prepared it and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon saying, “O Baal, answer us.” But there was ^ano voice and no one answered. And they ²limped about the altar which ³they had made. ²⁷Now it happened at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; either he is occupied or relieving himself, or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened.” ²⁸So they cried with a loud voice and ^agashed themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them. ²⁹Now it happened when noon had passed, that they prophesied ^auntil the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice; but there was no voice, no one answered, and no ¹one paid attention.

³⁰Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And ^ahe repaired the altar of Yahweh which had been pulled down. ³¹Then Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of Yahweh had come, saying, “^aIsrael shall be your name.” ³²And with the stones he built an altar in ^athe name of Yahweh, and he made a trench around the altar, large enough to hold two ¹seahs of seed. ³³^aThen he arranged the wood and cut the ox in pieces and placed it on the wood. ³⁴And he said, “Fill four pitchers with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” And he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. ³⁵And the water flowed around the altar and he also filled the trench with water.

Yahweh Answers, He Is God

³⁶^aNow it happened at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “^bO Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that ^cYou are God in Israel and that I am Your slave and ^dI have done all these things at Your word. ³⁷“Answer me, O Yahweh, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Yahweh, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again.” ³⁸Then the ^afire of Yahweh fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. ³⁹And all the people saw it and fell on their faces and said, “^aYahweh, He is God; Yahweh, He is God.” ⁴⁰Then Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to ^athe brook Kishon, ^band slaughtered them there.

Yahweh Sends Rain

⁴¹Now Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of the tumult of rain.” ⁴²So Ahab went up to eat and drink. But Elijah went up to the top of ^aCarmel; and he ^bstretched himself down toward the ground and put his face between his knees. ⁴³And he said to his young man, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” And he said, “Go back” seven times. ⁴⁴Now it happened at the seventh time, that he said, “Behold, ^aa cloud as small as a man’s hand is coming up from the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘¹Prepare your chariot and go down, so that the rain does not stop you.’” ⁴⁵Now it happened that in a little while the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. And Ahab rode and went to ^aJezreel. ⁴⁶But ^athe hand of Yahweh was on Elijah, and ^bhe girded up his loins and ¹outran Ahab unto where you enter Jezreel.