And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and above all, that he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods do so to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow!”
And he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beer-sheba that belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he would die, and said, “It is enough. Now, O Yahweh, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
He lay down and slept under a broom tree, and behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up! Eat!”
He looked, and behold, at his head was a loaf of bread baked on the coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again.
The angel of Yahweh came a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, because the journey is too much for you.”
So he got up and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food for 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.
The Lord Speaks to Elijah
He came there to the cave and lodged there. And behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
And he said, “I have been zealous, yes, zealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies, because the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I am left, I alone, and they seek my life, to take it.”
He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before Yahweh.” And behold, Yahweh passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before Yahweh, but Yahweh was not in the wind. After the wind was an earthquake, but Yahweh was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake was fire, but Yahweh was not in the fire, and after the fire a still small voice.
And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
And he said, “I have been zealous, yes, zealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies, because the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I am left, I alone, and they seek my life, to take it.”
Yahweh said to him, “Go, return on your way toward the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Syria.
You are to anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel, and you are to anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah to be a prophet in your place.
And he who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill, and he who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill.
Yet I will preserve 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
The Call of Elisha
So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with 12 pairs of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. And Elijah crossed over to him and threw his cloak on him.
So he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back, for what have I done to you?”
So he returned from following him. Then he took the pair of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s plowing equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he got up and went after Elijah and served him.