17:1 Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As certainly as the Lord God of Israel lives (whom I serve), 1 there will be no dew or rain in the years ahead unless I give the command.” 2
18:1 Some time later, in the third year of the famine, the Lord told Elijah, 4 “Go, make an appearance before Ahab, so I may send rain on the surface of the ground.”
18:25 Elijah told the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls for yourselves and go first, for you are the majority. Invoke the name of your god, but do not light a fire.” 7
19:19 Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen; he was near the twelfth pair. Elijah passed by him and threw his robe over him. 19:20 He left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, then I will follow you.” Elijah 15 said to him, “Go back! Indeed, what have I done to you?” 19:21 Elisha 16 went back and took his pair of oxen and slaughtered them. He cooked the meat over a fire that he made by burning the harness and yoke. 17 He gave the people meat and they ate. Then he got up and followed Elijah and became his assistant.
1 tn Heb “before whom I stand.”
2 tn Heb “except at the command of my word.”
3 tn Heb “according to your word.”
5 tn Heb “the word of the
7 tn Heb “How long are you going to limp around on two crutches?” (see HALOT 762 s.v. סְעִפִּים). In context this idiomatic expression refers to indecision rather than physical disability.
8 tn Heb “the God.”
9 tc The last sentence of v. 25 is absent in the Syriac Peshitta.
11 sn Elijah’s sarcastic proposals would have been especially offensive and irritating to Baal’s prophets, for they believed Baal was imprisoned in the underworld as death’s captive during this time of drought. Elijah’s apparent ignorance of their theology is probably designed for dramatic effect; indeed the suggestion that Baal is away on a trip or deep in sleep comes precariously close to the truth as viewed by the prophets.
13 tn Heb “at the offering up of the offering.”
14 tn The words “the altar” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
15 tn Heb “let it be known.”
15 tn Heb “saying.”
16 tn Heb “So may the gods do to me, and so may they add.”
17 tn Heb “I do not make your life like the life of one of them.”
17 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
19 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
20 tn Heb “and with the equipment of the oxen he cooked them, the flesh.”