1And Ahab declares to Jezebel all that Elijah did, and all of how he slew all the prophets by the sword, 2and Jezebel sends a messenger to Elijah, saying, “Thus the gods do, and thus do they add—surely about this time tomorrow, I make your life as the life of one of them.” 3And he fears, and rises, and goes for his life, and comes to Beer-Sheba, that [is] Judah’s, and leaves his young man there, 4and he himself has gone a day’s journey into the wilderness, and comes and sits under a certain broom tree, and desires his soul to die, and says, “Enough, now, O YHWH, take my soul, for I [am] not better than my fathers.” 5And he lies down and sleeps under a certain broom tree, and behold, a messenger is reaching toward him and says to him, “Rise, eat”; 6and he looks attentively, and behold, at his bolster [is] a cake [on] burning stones, and a dish of water, and he eats, and drinks, and turns, and lies down. 7And the messenger of YHWH turns back a second time, and is reaching toward him, and says, “Rise, eat, for the way is too great for you”; 8and he rises, and eats, and drinks, and goes in the power of that food [for] forty days and forty nights, to the mountain of God—Horeb.

9And he comes in there, to the cave, and lodges there, and behold, the word of YHWH [is] to him, and says to him, “What are you [doing] here, Elijah?” 10And he says, “I have been very zealous for YHWH, God of Hosts, for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant—they have thrown down Your altars, and they have slain Your prophets by the sword, and I am left, I, by myself, and they seek my life—to take it.”

11And He says, “Go out, and you have stood on the mountain before YHWH.” And behold, YHWH is passing by, and a wind—great and strong—is tearing mountains, and shattering rocks before YHWH, [but] YHWH [is] not in the wind; and after the wind [is] a shaking, [but] YHWH [is] not in the shaking; 12and after the shaking [is] a fire, [but] YHWH [is] not in the fire; and after the fire [is] a voice [like] a small whisper; 13and it comes to pass, at Elijah’s hearing [it], that he wraps his face in his robe, and goes out, and stands at the opening of the cave, and behold, a voice [speaks] to him, and it says, “What are you [doing] here, Elijah?” 14And he says, “I have been very zealous for YHWH, God of Hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, they have thrown down Your altars, and they have slain Your prophets by the sword, and I am left, I, by myself, and they seek my life—to take it.”

15And YHWH says to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and you have gone in, and anointed Hazael for king over Aram, 16and you anoint Jehu son of Nimshi for king over Israel, and you anoint Elisha son of Shaphat, of Abel-Meholah, for prophet in your stead. 17And it has been, he who has escaped from the sword of Hazael, Jehu puts to death, and he who has escaped from the sword of Jehu, Elisha puts to death; 18and I have left in Israel seven thousand—all the knees that have not bowed to Ba‘al, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

19And he goes there, and finds Elisha son of Shaphat, and he is plowing; twelve yoke [are] before him, and he [is] with the twelfth; and Elijah passes over to him, and casts his robe at him, 20and he forsakes the ox, and runs after Elijah, and says, “Please let me give a kiss to my father and to my mother, and I go after you.” And he says to him, “Go, turn back, for what have I done to you?” 21And he turns back from after him, and takes the yoke of the ox, and sacrifices it, and with [the] instruments of the ox he has boiled its flesh, and gives to the people, and they eat, and he rises, and goes after Elijah, and serves him.