1Then Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and all about how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
2So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods do so to me, and more also, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like the life of one of them.”
3When he saw this, he arose and went for his life, and he came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and he left his servant there.
4But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and he came and sat under a single broom bush, and he asked that he might die. He said, “It is enough now, Yahweh; take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
5Then he lay down and slept under a single broom bush, and behold, an angel was touching him, and he said to him, “Arise, eat.”
6He looked, and behold, at his head there was a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again.
7The angel of Yahweh returned a second time and touched him, and said, “Arise, eat, for the journey is too great for you.”
8So he arose and ate and drank, and in the strength of that food he went forty days and forty nights until Horeb, the mountain of God.
9There he came to the cave and spent the night there. And behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10He said, “I have been very zealous for Yahweh, the God of hosts, for the sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword; and I alone am left, and they seek my life, to take it.”
11He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before Yahweh.” And behold, Yahweh was passing by, and a great and strong wind was tearing apart the mountains and shattering the rocks before Yahweh — but Yahweh was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake — but Yahweh was not in the earthquake.
12And after the earthquake a fire — but Yahweh was not in the fire. And after the fire a sound of thin silence.
13When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
14He said, “I have been very zealous for Yahweh, the God of hosts, for the sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword; and I alone am left, and they seek my life, to take it.”
15Yahweh said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.
16And Jehu son of Nimshi you shall anoint as king over Israel, and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.
17And it shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill, and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill.
18Yet I will leave in Israel seven thousand — all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.
19So he went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat, and he was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him, and he himself was with the twelfth. Elijah passed over to him and threw his mantle upon him.
20He left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go, return, for what have I done to you?”
21So he returned from following him and took the pair of oxen and slaughtered them, and with the yoke of the oxen he boiled their flesh and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah and served him.
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