1 Kings 18:24

18:24 Then you ¹  will invoke the name of your god, and I will invoke the name of the Lord. The god who responds with fire will demonstrate that he is the true God.” ²  All the people responded, “This will be a fair test.” ³ 

1 Kings 18:26

18:26 So they took a bull, as he had suggested, ⁴  and prepared it. They invoked the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “Baal, answer us.” But there was no sound and no answer. They jumped ⁵  around on the altar they had made. ⁶ 

1 Kings 18:29

18:29 Throughout the afternoon they were in an ecstatic frenzy, ⁷  but there was no sound, no answer, and no response. ⁸ 

1 Kings 18:36-37

18:36 When it was time for the evening offering, ⁹  Elijah the prophet approached the altar ¹⁰  and prayed: “O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, prove ¹¹  today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 18:37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are the true God ¹²  and that you are winning back their allegiance.” ¹³ 

1 Kings 18:2

18:2 So Elijah went to make an appearance before Ahab.

Now the famine was severe in Samaria. ¹⁴ 

1 Kings 1:20-22

1:20 Now, ¹⁵  my master, O king, all Israel is watching anxiously to see who is named to succeed my master the king on the throne. ¹⁶  1:21 If a decision is not made, ¹⁷  when my master the king is buried with his ancestors, ¹⁸  my son Solomon and I ¹⁹  will be considered state criminals.” ²⁰ 

1:22 Just then, ²¹  while she was still speaking to the king, Nathan the prophet arrived.

Isaiah 65:24

65:24 Before they even call out, ²²  I will respond;

while they are still speaking, I will hear.

Jeremiah 33:3

33:3 ‘Call on me in prayer and I will answer you. I will show you great and mysterious ²³  things which you still do not know about.’

¹ tn Elijah now directly addresses the prophets.

² tn Heb “the God.”

³ tn Heb “The matter [i.e., proposal] is good [i.e., acceptable].”

⁴ tn Heb “and they took the bull which he allowed them.”

⁵ tn Heb “limped” (the same verb is used in v. 21).

⁶ tc The MT has “which he made,” but some medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions have the plural form of the verb.

⁷ tn Heb “when noon passed they prophesied until the offering up of the offering.”

⁸ tc The Old Greek translation and Syriac Peshitta include the following words here: “When it was time to offer the sacrifice, Elijah the Tishbite spoke to the prophets of the abominations: ‘Stand aside for the time being, and I will offer my burnt offering.’ So they stood aside and departed.”

⁹ tn Heb “at the offering up of the offering.”

¹⁰ tn The words “the altar” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

¹¹ tn Heb “let it be known.”

¹² tn Heb “the God.”

¹³ tn Heb “that you are turning their heart[s] back.”

¹⁴ map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.

¹⁵ tc Many Hebrew mss have עַתָּה (’attah, “now”) rather than the similar sounding independent pronoun אַתָּה (’attah, “you”).

¹⁶ tn Heb “the eyes of all Israel are upon you to declare to them who will sit on the throne of my master the king after him.”

¹⁷ tn The words “if a decision is not made” are added for clarification.

¹⁸ tn Heb “lies down with his fathers.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “I and my son Solomon.” The order has been reversed in the translation for stylistic reasons.

²⁰ tn Heb “will be guilty”; NASB “considered offenders”; TEV “treated as traitors.”

²¹ tn Heb “look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) here draws attention to Nathan’s arrival and invites the audience to view the scene through the eyes of the participants.

²² tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

²³ tn This passive participle or adjective is normally used to describe cities or walls as “fortified” or “inaccessible.” All the lexicons, however, agree in seeing it used here metaphorically of “secret” or “mysterious” things, things that Jeremiah could not know apart from the Lord’s revelation. G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, and T. G. Smothers (Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 170) make the interesting observation that the word is used here in a context in which the fortifications of Jerusalem are about to fall to the Babylonians; the fortified things in God’s secret counsel fall through answer to prayer.