1 Kings 18:1

Elijah Meets the King’s Servant

18:1 Some time later, in the third year of the famine, the Lord told Elijah, ¹  “Go, make an appearance before Ahab, so I may send rain on the surface of the ground.”

1 Kings 18:27-40

18:27 At noon Elijah mocked them, “Yell louder! After all, he is a god; he may be deep in thought, or perhaps he stepped out for a moment or has taken a trip. Perhaps he is sleeping and needs to be awakened.” ²  18:28 So they yelled louder and, in accordance with their prescribed ritual, ³  mutilated themselves with swords and spears until their bodies were covered with blood. ⁴  18:29 Throughout the afternoon they were in an ecstatic frenzy, ⁵  but there was no sound, no answer, and no response. ⁶ 

18:30 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. ⁷  18:31 Then Elijah took twelve stones, corresponding to the number of tribes that descended from Jacob, to whom the Lord had said, “Israel will be your new ⁸  name.” ⁹  18:32 With the stones he constructed an altar for the Lord. ¹⁰  Around the altar he made a trench large enough to contain two seahs ¹¹  of seed. 18:33 He arranged the wood, cut up the bull, and placed it on the wood. 18:34 Then he said, “Fill four water jars and pour the water on the offering and the wood.” When they had done so, ¹²  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. 18:35 The water flowed down all sides of the altar and filled the trench. 18:36 When it was time for the evening offering, ¹³  Elijah the prophet approached the altar ¹⁴  and prayed: “O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, prove ¹⁵  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 ¹⁶  and that you are winning back their allegiance.” ¹⁷  18:38 Then fire from the Lord fell from the sky. ¹⁸  It consumed the offering, the wood, the stones, and the dirt, and licked up the water in the trench. 18:39 When all the people saw this, they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and said, “The Lord is the true God! ¹⁹  The Lord is the true God!” 18:40 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 ²⁰  them there.

1 Kings 18:45

18:45 Meanwhile the sky was covered with dark clouds, the wind blew, and there was a heavy rainstorm. Ahab rode toward ²¹  Jezreel.

Psalms 68:9

68:9 O God, you cause abundant showers to fall ²²  on your chosen people. ²³ 

When they ²⁴  are tired, you sustain them, ²⁵ 

Jeremiah 14:22

14:22 Do any of the worthless idols ²⁶  of the nations cause rain to fall?

Do the skies themselves send showers?

Is it not you, O Lord our God, who does this? ²⁷ 

So we put our hopes in you ²⁸ 

because you alone do all this.”

James 5:17-18

5:17 Elijah was a human being ²⁹  like us, and he prayed earnestly ³⁰  that it would not rain and there was no rain on the land for three years and six months! 5:18 Then ³¹  he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land sprouted with a harvest.

[18:1]  ¹ tn Heb “the word of the Lord came to Elijah.”

[18:27]  ² 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.

[18:28]  ³ tn Or “as was their custom.”

[18:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “until blood poured out on them.”

[18:29]  ⁵ tn Heb “when noon passed they prophesied until the offering up of the offering.”

[18:29]  ⁶ 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.”

[18:30]  ⁷ sn Torn down. The condition of the altar symbolizes the spiritual state of the people.

[18:31]  ⁸ tn The word “new” is implied but not actually present in the Hebrew text.

[18:31]  ⁹ sn Israel will be your new name. See Gen 32:28; 35:10.

[18:32]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and he built the stones into an altar in the name of the Lord.”

[18:32]  ¹¹ tn A seah was a dry measure equivalent to about seven quarts.

[18:34]  ¹² tn The words “when they had done so” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[18:36]  ¹³ tn Heb “at the offering up of the offering.”

[18:36]  ¹⁴ tn The words “the altar” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[18:36]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “let it be known.”

[18:37]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the God.”

[18:37]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “that you are turning their heart[s] back.”

[18:38]  ¹⁸ tn The words “from the sky” are added for stylistic reasons.

[18:39]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the God” (the phrase occurs twice in this verse).

[18:40]  ²⁰ tn Or “slaughtered.”

[18:45]  ²¹ tn Heb “rode and went to.”

[68:9]  ²² tn The verb נוּף (nuf, “cause rain to fall”) is a homonym of the more common נוּף (“brandish”).

[68:9]  ²³ tn Heb “[on] your inheritance.” This refers to Israel as God’s specially chosen people (see Pss 28:9; 33:12; 74:2; 78:62, 71; 79:1; 94:5, 14; 106:40). Some take “your inheritance” with what follows, but the vav (ו) prefixed to the following word (note וְנִלְאָה, vÿnil’ah) makes this syntactically unlikely.

[68:9]  ²⁴ tn Heb “it [is],” referring to God’s “inheritance.”

[68:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “it,” referring to God’s “inheritance.”

[14:22]  ²⁶ tn The word הֶבֶל (hevel), often translated “vanities”, is a common pejorative epithet for idols or false gods. See already in 8:19 and 10:8.

[14:22]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Is it not you, O Lord our God?” The words “who does” are supplied in the translation for English style.

[14:22]  ²⁸ tn The rhetorical negatives are balanced by a rhetorical positive.

[5:17]  ²⁹ tn Although it is certainly true that Elijah was a “man,” here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") has been translated as “human being” because the emphasis in context is not on Elijah’s masculine gender, but on the common humanity he shared with the author and the readers.

[5:17]  ³⁰ tn Grk “he prayed with prayer” (using a Hebrew idiom to show intensity).

[5:18]  ³¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events.