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So Ahab went up to eat and drink. But Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bent down to the earth and put his face between his knees.

And he said to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea." So he went up and looked, but he said, "There is nothing." Yet Elijah said, "Go back" seven times.

Then the hand of the LORD was on Elijah, and he belted his cloak around his waist and outran Ahab to Jezreel.

And he was afraid, and got up and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah; and he left his servant there.

And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a round loaf of bread baked on hot coals, and a pitcher of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again.

When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat while he was plowing, with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he with the twelfth. And Elijah came over to him and threw his cloak on him.

Now Ben-hadad, king of Aram, gathered all his army, and there were thirty-two kings with him, and horses and chariots. And he went up and besieged Samaria, and fought against it.

Then the king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land and said, "Please be aware and see that this man is looking for trouble; for he sent me his demand for my wives, my children, my silver, and my gold, and I did not refuse him."

Then the king of Israel replied, "Tell him, 'He who straps on his weapons had better not boast like one who takes them off.'"

And when Ben-hadad heard this message, while he was drinking with the kings in the temporary shelters, he said to his servants, "Take your positions." So they took their positions against the city.

And they killed, each one, his man; and the Arameans fled and Israel pursued them, and Ben-hadad the king of Aram escaped on a horse with horsemen.

"Carry out this plan: remove the kings, each from his place, and put governors in their place,

But his servants said to him, "Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please let's put sackcloth around our waists and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will let you live."

So the prophet departed and waited for the king by the road, and disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes.

And as the king passed by, he cried out to the king and said, "Your servant went out into the midst of the battle; and behold, a man turned aside and brought a man to me and said, 'Guard this man; if for any reason he goes missing, then your life shall be forfeited in place of his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.'

Then he quickly took the bandage away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him, that he was one of the prophets.

And the prophet said to him, "This is what the LORD says: 'Since you have let go from your hand the man I had designated for destruction, your life shall be forfeited in place of his life, and your people in place of his people.'"

So the king of Israel went to his house sullen and furious, and came to Samaria.

So Ahab entered his house sullen and furious because of the answer that Naboth the Jezreelite had given to him, since he said, "I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers." And he lay down on his bed and turned his face away, and ate no food.