1And when Aḥaḇ reported to Izeḇel all that Ěliyahu had done, also how he slew all the prophets with the sword,

2Izeḇel sent a messenger to Ěliyahu, saying, “So let the mighty ones do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.”

3And he feared, and rose up and ran for his life, and went to Be’ĕrsheḇa, which belongs to Yehuḏah, and left his servant there.

4But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree, and prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, יהוה, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”

5And he lay and slept under a broom tree, and see, a messenger touched him, and said to him, “Rise, eat.”

6And he looked and saw by his head a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and turned and lay down.

7And the messenger of יהוה came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Rise, eat, for the journey is too much for you.”

8And he rose up and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Ḥorĕḇ, the mountain of Elohim.

9And there he went into a cave and spent the night there. And see, the word of יהוה came to him, and said to him, “What are you doing here, Ěliyahu?”

10And he said, “I have been very jealous for יהוה Elohim of hosts, for the children of Yisra’ĕl have forsaken Your covenant. They have thrown down Your altars, and they have slain Your prophets with the sword, and I am left, I alone, and they seek my life, to take it.”

11And He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before יהוה.” And see, יהוה passed by, and a great and strong wind tearing the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces before יהוה – יהוה was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake – יהוה was not in the earthquake,

12and after the earthquake a fire – יהוה was not in the fire, and after the fire a still small voice.

13And it came to be, when Ěliyahu heard it, that he wrapped his face in his robe and went out and stood at the cave opening. And see, a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Ěliyahu?”

14And he said, “I have been very jealous for יהוה Elohim of hosts, for the children of Yisra’ĕl have forsaken Your covenant. They have thrown down Your altars, and they have slain Your prophets with the sword, and I am left, I alone, and they seek my life, to take it.”

15And יהוה said to him, “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus. And you shall go in and anoint Ḥaza’ĕl as sovereign over Aram.

16“And anoint Yĕhu son of Nimshi as sovereign over Yisra’ĕl. And anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Aḇĕl Meḥolah as prophet in your place.

17“And it shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Ḥaza’ĕl, Yĕhu does kill. And whoever escapes from the sword of Yĕhu, Elisha does kill.

18“And I shall leave seven thousand in Yisra’ĕl, all whose knees have not bowed to Ba‛al, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

19And he went from there, and found Elisha son of Shaphat, who was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. And Ěliyahu passed by him and threw his robe on him.

20And he left the oxen and ran after Ěliyahu, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I follow you.” And he said to him, “Go, turn back, for what have I done to you?”

21And he turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and cooked their flesh, using the implements of the oxen, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he rose up and followed Ěliyahu, and became his servant.