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1 Kings 18 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

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Elijah’s Message to Ahab
The Contest on Mount Carmel

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:1

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:1 - And it came to pass after many days that the word of the LORD came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:2

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:2 - So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab; and there was a severe famine in Samaria.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:3

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:3 - And Ahab had called Obadiah, who was in charge of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:4

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:4 - For so it was, while Jezebel massacred the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah had taken one hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty to a cave, and had fed them with bread and water.)

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:5

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:5 - And Ahab had said to Obadiah, “Go into the land to all the springs of water and to all the brooks; perhaps we may find grass to keep the horses and mules alive, so that we will not have to kill any livestock.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:6

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:6 - So they divided the land between them to explore it; Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:7

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:7 - Now as Obadiah was on his way, suddenly Elijah met him; and he recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, “Is that you, my lord Elijah?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:8

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:8 - And he answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’ ”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:9

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:9 - So he said, “How have I sinned, that you are delivering your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me?

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:10

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:10 - “As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to hunt for you; and when they said, ‘He is not here,’ he took an oath from the kingdom or nation that they could not find you.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:11

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:11 - “And now you say, ‘Go, tell your master, “Elijah is here” ’!

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:12

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:12 - “And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from you, that the Spirit of the LORD will carry you to a place I do not know; so when I go and tell Ahab, and he cannot find you, he will kill me. But I your servant have feared the LORD from my youth.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:13

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:13 - “Was it not reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, how I hid one hundred men of the LORD’s prophets, fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water?

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:14

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:14 - “And now you say, ‘Go, tell your master, “Elijah is here.” ’ He will kill me!”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:15

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:15 - Then Elijah said, “As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely present myself to him today.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:16

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:16 - So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:17

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:17 - Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:18

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:18 - And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:19

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:19 - “Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah,[fn] who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
Elijah’s Mount Carmel Victory

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:20

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:20 - So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:21

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:21 - And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:22

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:22 - Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:23

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:23 - “Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:24

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:24 - “Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.” So all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:25

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:25 - Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:26

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:26 - So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:27

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:27 - And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:28

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:28 - So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:29

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:29 - And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:30

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:30 - Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:31

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:31 - And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.”[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:32

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:32 - Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:33

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:33 - And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:34

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:34 - Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time; and he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:35

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:35 - So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:36

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:36 - And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:37

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:37 - “Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:38

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:38 - Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:39

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:39 - Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:40

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:40 - And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there.
The Drought Ends

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:41

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:41 - Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:42

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:42 - So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees,

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:43

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:43 - and said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” And seven times he said, “Go again.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:44

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:44 - Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!” So he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’ ”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:45

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:45 - Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 18:46

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 18:46 - Then the hand of the LORD came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
See the NKJV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NKJV Footnotes
A Canaanite goddess
Genesis 32:28
NKJV

New King James Version, © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

The text of the New King James Version (NKJV) appearing on or deriving from this or any other web page is for personal use only. Any other use of the NKJV must be in conformity with the Quotation Policy for the New King James Version. For more information about the New King James Version, the Quotation Policy, and for inquiries about permission to use the New King James Version, go to Thomas Nelson, Inc..

For more information on this translation, see the NKJV Preface.

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