Study Desk

So they yelled louder and, in accordance with their prescribed ritual, mutilated themselves with swords and spears until their bodies were covered with blood.

Elijah then told all the people, "Approach me." So all the people approached him. He repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down.

Then he said, "Fill four water jars and pour the water on the offering and the wood." When they had done so, he said, "Do it again." So they did it again. Then he said, "Do it a third time." So they did it a third time.

Answer me, O Lord , answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord , are the true God and that you are winning back their allegiance."

Elijah told them, "Seize the prophets of Baal! Don't let even one of them escape!" So they seized them, and Elijah led them down to the Kishon Valley and executed them there.

So Ahab went on up to eat and drink, while Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel. He bent down toward the ground and put his face between his knees.

He told his servant, "Go on up and look in the direction of the sea." So he went on up, looked, and reported, "There is nothing." Seven times Elijah sent him to look.

The seventh time the servant said, "Look, a small cloud, the size of the palm of a man's hand, is rising up from the sea." Elijah then said, "Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up the chariots and go down, so that the rain won't overtake you.'"

Elijah was afraid, so he got up and fled for his life to Beer Sheba in Judah. He left his servant there,

So he got up and ate and drank. That meal gave him the strength to travel forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.

So he said to the messengers of Ben Hadad, "Say this to my master, the king, ‘I will give you everything you demanded at first from your servant, but I am unable to agree to this latest demand.'" So the messengers went back and gave their report.

When Ben Hadad received this reply, he and the other kings were drinking in their quarters. He ordered his servants, "Get ready to attack!" So they got ready to attack the city.

So Ahab assembled the 232 servants of the district governors. After that he assembled all the Israelite army, numbering 7,000.

So do this: Dismiss the kings from their command, and replace them with military commanders.

So they put sackcloth around their waists and ropes on their heads and went to the king of Israel. They said, "Your servant Ben Hadad says, ‘Please let me live!'" Ahab replied, "Is he still alive? He is my brother."

The men took this as a good omen and quickly accepted his offer, saying, "Ben Hadad is your brother." Ahab then said, "Go, get him." So Ben Hadad came out to him, and Ahab pulled him up into his chariot.

Ben Hadad said, "I will return the cities my father took from your father. You may set up markets in Damascus, just as my father did in Samaria." Ahab then said, "I want to make a treaty with you before I dismiss you." So he made a treaty with him and then dismissed him.

So the prophet said to him, "Because you have disobeyed the Lord , as soon as you leave me a lion will kill you." When he left him, a lion attacked and killed him.

He found another man and said, "Wound me!" So the man wounded him severely.

Well, it just so happened that while your servant was doing this and that, he disappeared." The king of Israel said to him, "Your punishment is already determined by your own testimony."