19 1 Ahab told his wife, Jezebel, that Elijah had killed the prophets of Baal.
2 Jezebel sent a message to Elijah, saying, "I'm going to kill you tomorrow at about this time."
3-4 When Elijah heard that, he went into the wilderness near Beersheba in Juda and sat under a juniper tree, and said to God, “Just kill me now.”
5 Then Elijah went to sleep and was touched by an angel, who said to him, "Get up and eat."
6 Elijah looked up and saw a cake and some water. So he ate the cake, drank the water, and went back to sleep.
7 The angel came back, touched him again, and said, "Get up and eat. It's time to get going."
8 So Elijah got up and walked to God's mountain (Mount Horeb). The journey took him forty days, during which he neither ate nor drank.
9 Elijah went into a cave where the word of God came to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
10 Elijah said,
With zeal I have been zealous for the Lord God of hosts.
But the Israelites have destroyed your altars and killed your prophets.
Now they want to kill me.
11-12 The word of God said, "Go stand on the mountain in front of God."
So Elijah stood on the mountain, and a strong wind blew that tore the mountain apart. But God wasn't in the wind. Then an earthquake came. But God wasn't in the earthquake. Then there was a fire. But God wasn't in the fire. Finally, there was a little voice. A voice said to him, 13 "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
14 Elijah said,
With zeal I have been zealous for the Lord God of hosts.
But the Israelites have destroyed your altars and killed your prophets.
Now they want to kill me.
15 God said to him,
Go anoint Hazael the king of Syria, 16 Jehu the king of Israel, and Elisha the prophet who will replace you.
17 Jehu will kill whoever isn't killed by Hazael.
And whoever isn't killed by Jehu will be killed by Elisha.
18 But there will be 7000 in Israel who haven't bowed or kissed Baal who will survive.
19 So Elijah found Elisha, who was plowing with twelve oxen, and put his mantle on him.
20 Elisha said to Elijah, "Let me kiss my mom and dad, then I'll follow you."
Elijah said, "OK".
21 Elisha killed his oxen, boiled their flesh, and gave it to the people. Then he followed after Elijah.
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The Skeptic's Annotated Bible
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