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It happened after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Eliyah, in the third year, saying, Go, show yourself to Ach'av; and I will send rain on the eretz.
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Eliyah went to show himself to Ach'av. The famine was sore in Shomron.
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Ach'av called `Ovadyah, who was over the household. (Now `Ovadyah feared the LORD greatly:
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for it was so, when Izevel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that `Ovadyah took one hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)
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Ach'av said to `Ovadyah, Go through the land, to all the springs of water, and to all the brooks: peradventure we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we not lose all the animals.
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So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ach'av went one way by himself, and `Ovadyah went another way by himself.
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As `Ovadyah was in the way, behold, Eliyah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Is it you, my lord Eliyah?
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He answered him, It is I: go, tell your lord, Behold, Eliyah [is here].
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He said, Wherein have I sinned, that you would deliver your servant into the hand of Ach'av, to kill me?
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As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom, where my lord has not sent to seek you: and when they said, He is not here, he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they didn't find you.
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Now you say, Go, tell your lord, Behold, Eliyah [is here].
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It will happen, as soon as I am gone from you, that the Spirit of the LORD will carry you I don't know where; and so when I come and tell Ach'av, and he can't find you, he will kill me: but I your servant fear the LORD from my youth.
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Wasn't it told my lord what I did when Izevel killed the prophets of the LORD, how I hid one hundred men of the LORD's prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
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Now you say, Go, tell your lord, Behold, Eliyah [is here]; and he will kill me.
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Eliyah said, As the LORD of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.
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So `Ovadyah went to meet Ach'av, and told him; and Ach'av went to meet Eliyah.
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It happened, when Ach'av saw Eliyah, that Ach'av said to him, Is it you, you troubler of Yisra'el?
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He answered, I have not troubled Yisra'el; but you, and your father's house, in that you have forsaken the mitzvot of the LORD, and you have followed the Ba`alim.
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Now therefore send, and gather to me all Yisra'el to Mount Karmel, and the prophets of Ba`al four hundred fifty, and the prophets of the Asherah four hundred, who eat at Izevel's table.
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So Ach'av sent to all the children of Yisra'el, and gathered the prophets together to Mount Karmel.
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Eliyah came near to all the people, and said, How long go you limping between the two sides? if the LORD is God, follow him; but if Ba`al, then follow him. The people answered him not a word.
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Then said Eliyah to the people, I, even I only, am left a prophet of the LORD; but Ba`al's prophets are four hundred fifty men.
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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.
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Call you on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, let him be God. All the people answered, It is well spoken.
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Eliyah said to the prophets of Ba`al, 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.
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They took the bull which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Ba`al from morning even until noon, saying, Ba`al, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any who answered. They leaped about the altar which was made.
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It happened at noon, that Eliyah 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.
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They cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them.
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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.
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Eliyah said to all the people, Come near to me; and all the people came near to him. He repaired the altar of the LORD that was thrown down.
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Eliyah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Ya`akov, to whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Yisra'el shall be your name.
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With the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.
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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.
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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.
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The water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.
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It happened at the time of the offering of the [evening] offering, that Eliyah the prophet came near, and said, LORD, the God of Avraham, of Yitzchak, and of Yisra'el, let it be known this day that you are God in Yisra'el, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.
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Hear me, LORD, hear me, that this people may know that you, LORD, are God, and [that] you have turned their heart back again.
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Then the fire of the LORD 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.
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When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, the LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God.