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[1]Andit came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Eliu in the third year, saying, Go, and appear before Achaab, and I will bring rain upon the face of the earth.
[2]AndEliu went to appear before Achaab: and the famine was severe in Samaria.
[3]AndAchaab called Abdiu the steward. Now Abdiu feared the Lord greatly.
[4]Andit came to pass when Jezabel smote the prophets of the Lord, that Abdiu took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.
[5]AndAchaab said to Abdiu, Come, and let us go through the land, and to the fountains of water, and to the brooks, if by any means we may find grass, and may save the horses and mules, and so they will not perish from the tents.
[6]Andthey made a division of the way between them to pass through it: Achaab went one way, and Abdiu went by another way alone.
[7]AndAbdiu was alone in the way; and Eliu came alone to meet him: and Abdiu hasted, and fell upon his face, and said, My lord Eliu, art thou indeed he?
[8]AndEliu said to him, I am: go say to thy master, Behold, Eliu is here.
[9]AndAbdiu said, What sin have I committed, that thou givest thy servant into the hand of Achaab to slay me?
[10]Asthe Lord thy God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom, whither my lord has not sent to seek thee; and if they said, He is not here, then has he set fire to the kingdom and its territories, because he has not found thee.
[11]Andnow thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Eliu is here.
[12]Andit shall come to pass when I shall have departed from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee to a land which I know not, and I shall go in to tell the matter to Achaab, and he will not find thee and will slay me: yet thy servant fears the Lord from his youth.
[13]Hasit not been told to thee my lord, what I did when Jezabel slew the prophets of the Lord, that I hid a hundred men of the prophets of the Lord, by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
[14]Andnow thou sayest to me, Go, say to thy master, Behold, Eliu is here: and he shall slay me.
[15]AndEliu said, As the Lord of Hosts before whom I stand lives, to-day I will appear before him.
[16]AndAbdiu went to meet Achaab, and told him: and Achaab hasted forth, and went to meet Eliu.
[17]Andit came to pass when Achaab saw Eliu, that Achaab said to Eliu, Art thou he that perverts Israel?
[18]AndEliu said, I do not pervert Israel; but it is thou and thy father's house, in that ye forsake the Lord your God, and thou hast gone after Baalim.
[19]Andnow send, gather to me all Israel to mount Carmel, and the prophets of shame four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, that eat at Jezabel's table.
[20]AndAchaab sent to all Israel, and gathered all the prophets to mount Carmel.
[21]AndEliu drew near to them all: and Eliu said to them, How long wilt ye halt on both feet? if the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, follow him. And the people answered not a word.
[22]AndEliu said to the people, I am left, the only one prophet of the Lord; and the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty men, and the prophets of the groves four hundred.
[23]Letthem give us two oxen, and let them choose one for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire on the wood: and I will dress the other bullock, and put on no fire.
[24]Anddo ye call loudly on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord my God, and it shall come to pass that the God who shall answer by fire, he is God. And all the people answered and said, The word which thou hast spoken is good.
[25]AndEliu said to the prophets of shame, Choose to yourselves one calf, and dress it first, for ye are many; and call ye on the name of your god; but apply no fire.
[26]Andthey took the calf and drest it, and called on the name of Baal from morning till noon, and said, hear us, O Baal, hear us. And there was no voice, neither was there hearing, and they ran up and down on the alter which they had made.
[27]Andit was noon, and Eliu the Thesbite mocked them, and said, Call with a loud voice, for he is a god; for he is meditating, or else perhaps he is engaged in business, or perhaps he is asleep, and is to be awaked.
[28]Andthey cried with a loud voice, and cut themselves according to their custom with knives and lancets until the blood gushed out upon them.
[29]Andthey prophesied until the evening came; and it came to pass as it was the time of the offering of the sacrifice, that Eliu the Thesbite spoke to the prophets of the abominations, saying, Stand by for the present, and I will offer my sacrifice. And they stood aside and departed.
[30]AndEliu said to the people, Come near to me. And all the people came near to him.
[31]AndEliu took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, as the Lord spoke to him, saying, Israel shall be thy name.
[32]Andhe built up the stones in the name of the Lord, and repaired the altar that had been broken down; and he made a trench that would hold two measures of seed round about the altar.
[33]Andhe piled the cleft wood on the altar which he had made, and divided the whole-burnt-offering, and laid it on the wood, and laid it in order on the altar, and said, Fetch me four pitchers of water, and pour it on the whole-burnt-offering, and on the wood. And they did so.
[34]Andhe said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.
[35]Andthe water ran round about the altar, and they filled the trench with water.
[36]AndEliu cried aloud to the heaven, and said, Lord God of Abraam, and Isaac, and Israel, answer me, O Lord, answer me this day by fire, and let all this people know that thou art the Lord, the God of Israel, and I am thy servant, and for thy sake I have wrought these works.
[37]Hearme, O Lord, hear me, and let this people know that thou art the Lord God, and thou hast turned back the heart of this people.
[38]Thenfire fell from the Lord out of heaven, and devoured the whole-burnt-offerings, and the wood and the water that was in the trench, and the fire licked up the stones and the earth.
[39]Andall the people fell upon their faces, and said, Truly the Lord is God; he is God.
[40]AndEliu said to the people, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them; and Eliu brings them down to the brook Kisson, and he slew them there.
[41]AndEliu said to Achaab, Go up, and eat and drink, for there is a sound of the coming of rain.
[42]AndAchaab went up to eat and to drink; and Eliu went up to Carmel, and stooped to the ground, and put his face between his knees,
[43]andsaid to his servant, Go up, and look toward the sea. And the servant looked, and said, There is nothing: and Eliu said, Do thou then go again seven times.
[44]Andthe servant went again seven times: and it came to pass at the seventh time, that, behold, a little cloud like the sole of a man's foot brought water; and he said, Go up, and say to Achaab, make ready thy chariot, and go down, lest the rain overtake thee.
[45]Andit came to pass in the meanwhile, that the heaven grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Achaab wept, and went to Jezrael.
[46]Andthe hand of the Lord was upon Eliu, and he girt up his loins, and ran before Achaab to Jezrael.
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