1 Kings 18:21-40

1 Kings 18:21-40

1 Kings 18:21-40

²¹ And Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you go on balancing between two opinions? if the Lord is God, then give worship to him; but if Baal, give worship to him. And the people said not a word in answer.

²¹ Elijah appealed to all the people and said, How long will you straddle the issue? If the LORD is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him. The people, however, did not answer him.

²¹ Elijah came near to all the people, and said, How long go you limping between the two sides? if Yahweh be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. The people answered him not a word.

²² Then Elijah said to the people, I, even I, am the only living prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men.

²² So Elijah said to the people, I am the only surviving prophet of the LORD, and there are four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal.

²² Then said Elijah to the people, I, even I only, am left a prophet of Yahweh; but Baal's prophets are four hundred fifty men.

²³ Now, let them give us two oxen; and let them take one for themselves, and have it cut up, and put it on the wood, but put no fire under it; I will get the other ox ready, and put it on the wood, and put no fire under it.

²³ Give us two young bulls. Let them choose one, cut it into pieces, and place it on the wood, but start no fire. I shall prepare the other and place it on the wood, but shall start no fire.

²³ Let them therefore give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under; and I will dress the other bull, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under.

²⁴ And do you make prayers to your god, and I will make a prayer to the Lord: and it will be clear that the one who gives an answer by fire is God. And all the people in answer said, It is well said.

²⁴ You shall call on your gods, and I will call on the LORD. The God who answers with fire is God. All the people answered, Agreed!

²⁴ Call you on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of Yahweh; and the God who answers by fire, let him be God. All the people answered, It is well spoken.

²⁵ Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, Take one ox for yourselves and get it ready first, for there are more of you; and make your prayers to your god, but put no fire under.

²⁵ Elijah then said to the prophets of Baal, Choose one young bull and prepare it first, for there are more of you. Call upon your gods, but do not start the fire.

²⁵ Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bull for yourselves, and dress it first; for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under.

²⁶ So they took the ox which was given them, and made it ready, crying out to Baal from morning till the middle of the day, and saying, O Baal, give ear to us. But there was no voice and no answer. And they were jumping up and down before the altar they had made.

²⁶ Taking the young bull that was turned over to them, they prepared it and called on Baal from morning to noon, saying, Answer us, Baal! But there was no sound, and no one answering. And they hopped around the altar they had prepared.

²⁶ They took the bull which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any who answered. They leaped about the altar which was made.

²⁷ And in the middle of the day, Elijah made sport of them, saying, Give louder cries, for he is a god; he may be deep in thought, or he may have gone away for some purpose, or he may be on a journey, or by chance he is sleeping and has to be made awake.

²⁷ When it was noon, Elijah taunted them: Call louder, for he is a god and may be meditating, or may have retired, or may be on a journey. Perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.

²⁷ It happened at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud; for he is a god: either he is musing, or he is gone aside, or he is on a journey, or peradventure he sleeps and must be awakened.

²⁸ So they gave loud cries, cutting themselves with knives and swords, as was their way, till the blood came streaming out all over them.

²⁸ They called out louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until blood gushed over them.

²⁸ They cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them.

²⁹ And from the middle of the day they went on with their prayers till the time of the offering; but there was no voice, or any answer, or any who gave attention to them.

²⁹ Noon passed and they remained in a prophetic state until the time for offering sacrifice. But there was not a sound; no one answered, and no one was listening.

²⁹ It was so, when midday was past, that they prophesied until the time of the offering of the [evening] offering; but there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any who regarded.

³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, Come near to me; and all the people came near. And he put up again the altar of the Lord which had been broken down.

³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, Come here to me. When they had done so, he repaired the altar of the LORD which had been destroyed.

³⁰ Elijah said to all the people, Come near to me; and all the people came near to him. He repaired the altar of Yahweh that was thrown down.

³¹ And Elijah took twelve stones, the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the Lord had said, Israel will be your name:

³¹ He took twelve stones, for the number of tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the LORD had said, Your name shall be Israel.

³¹ Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of Yahweh came, saying, Israel shall be your name.

³² And with the stones he made an altar to the name of the Lord; and he made a deep drain all round the altar, great enough to take two measures of seed.

³² He built an altar in honor of the LORD with the stones, and made a trench around the altar large enough for two seahs of grain.

³² With the stones he built an altar in the name of Yahweh; and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.

³³ And he put the wood in order, and, cutting up the ox, put it on the wood. Then he said, Get four vessels full of water and put it on the burned offering and on the wood. And he said, Do it a second time, and they did it a second time;

³³ When he had arranged the wood, he cut up the young bull and laid it on the wood.

³³ He put the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering, and on the wood.

³⁴ And he said, Do it a third time, and they did it a third time.

³⁴ Fill four jars with water, he said, and pour it over the holocaust and over the wood. Do it again, he said, and they did it again. Do it a third time, he said, and they did it a third time.

³⁴ He said, Do it the second time; and they did it the second time. He said, Do it the third time; and they did it the third time.

³⁵ And the water went all round the altar, till the drain was full.

³⁵ The water flowed around the altar, and the trench was filled with the water.

³⁵ The water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.

³⁶ Then at the time of the offering, Elijah the prophet came near and said, O Lord, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be seen this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things by your order.

³⁶ At the time for offering sacrifice, the prophet Elijah came forward and said, LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things by your command.

³⁶ It happened at the time of the offering of the [evening] offering, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.

³⁷ Give me an answer, O Lord, give me an answer, so that this people may see that you are God, and that you have made their hearts come back again.

³⁷ Answer me, LORD! Answer me, that this people may know that you, LORD, are God and that you have brought them back to their senses.

³⁷ Hear me, Yahweh, hear me, that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God, and [that] you have turned their heart back again.

³⁸ Then the fire of the Lord came down, burning up the offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and drinking up the water in the drain.

³⁸ The LORD'S fire came down and consumed the holocaust, wood, stones, and dust, and it lapped up the water in the trench.

³⁸ Then the fire of Yahweh fell, and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.

³⁹ And when the people saw it, they all went down on their faces, and said, The Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God.

³⁹ Seeing this, all the people fell prostrate and said, The LORD is God! The LORD is God!

³⁹ When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, Yahweh, he is God; Yahweh, he is God.

⁴⁰ And Elijah said to them, Take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them get away. So they took them, and Elijah made them go down to the stream Kishon, and put them to death there.

⁴⁰ Then Elijah said to them, Seize the prophets of Baal. Let none of them escape! They were seized, and Elijah had them brought down to the brook Kishon and there he slit their throats.

⁴⁰ and Elijah said to them, Take the prophets of Baal; don't let one of them escape. They took them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and killed them there.