1And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and all how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.
2And Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So may God do, and so may they add, if at this time tomorrow I do not make your soul (nephesh) like the soul (nephesh) of one of them."
3And he saw, and arose, and went for his soul (nephesh), and came to Beer-sheba which belongs to Judah, and left his young man there.
4And he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat under a certain broom tree; and he asked for his soul (nephesh) to die, and said, "It is enough; now, YHWH, take my soul (nephesh), for I am not better than my fathers."
5And he lay down and slept under a certain broom tree; and behold, an angel was touching him, and said to him, "Arise, eat."
6And he looked, and behold, at his head a cake baked on hot stones, and a cruse of water; and he ate and drank, and returned and lay down.
7And the angel of YHWH returned a second time, and touched him, and said, "Arise, eat, for the journey is too great for you."
8And he arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mountain of God.
9And he came there to the cave, and lodged there; and behold, the word of YHWH came to him, and He said to him, "What to you here, Elijah?"
10And he said, "I have been very jealous for YHWH the God of hosts (tzevaot); for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant (berit), thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword; and I, even I alone, am left, and they seek my soul (nephesh) to take it."
11And He said, "Go forth, and stand on the mountain before YHWH." And behold, YHWH passing by, and a great and strong spirit (ruach) rending the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces before YHWH — not in the spirit (ruach) was YHWH; and after the spirit (ruach) an earthquake — not in the earthquake was YHWH;
12and after the earthquake a fire — not in the fire was YHWH; and after the fire a voice of thin silence.
13And it came to pass, when Elijah heard, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood at the entrance of the cave; and behold, to him a voice, and it said, "What to you here, Elijah?"
14And he said, "I have been very jealous for YHWH the God of hosts (tzevaot); for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant (berit), thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword; and I, even I alone, am left, and they seek my soul (nephesh) to take it."
15And YHWH said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; and you shall come and anoint Hazael to be king over Aram;
16and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.
17And it shall be, that the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death; and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death.
18And I have left in Israel seven thousand, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him."
19And he went from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, and he was plowing with twelve yoke before him, and he with the twelfth; and Elijah passed over to him, and cast his mantle upon him.
20And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, "Let me kiss, please, my father and my mother, and then I will go after you." And he said to him, "Go, return; for what have I done to you?"
21And he returned from after him, and took the yoke of oxen, and slaughtered it, and with the implements of the oxen he boiled the flesh (basar), and gave to the people, and they ate; and he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered to him.