1 Kings 18:1-18 (NRSV)
Elijah condemns King Ahab
After many days the word of the Lord came
to Elijah, in the third year of the drought, saying, "Go, present yourself to
Ahab; I will send rain on the earth." So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.
The famine was severe in Samaria. Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of
the palace. (Now Obadiah revered the Lord greatly; when Jezebel was killing off
the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets, hid them fifty to a
cave, and provided them with bread and water.) Then Ahab said to Obadiah, "Go
through the land to all the springs of water and to all the wadis; perhaps we
may find grass to keep the horses and mules alive, and not lose some of the
animals." So they divided the land between them to pass through it; Ahab went in
one direction by himself, and Obadiah went in another direction by himself.
As Obadiah was on the way, Elijah met him; Obadiah recognized him,
fell on his face, and said, "Is it you, my lord Elijah?" He answered him, "It is
I. Go, tell your lord that Elijah is here." And he said, "How have I sinned,
that you would hand your servant over to Ahab, to kill me? As the Lord your God
lives, there is no nation or kingdom to which my lord has not sent to seek you;
and when they would say, 'He is not here,' he would require an oath of the
kingdom or nation, that they had not found you. But now you say, 'Go, tell your
lord that Elijah is here.' As soon as I have gone from you, the spirit of the
Lord will carry you I know not where; so, when I come and tell Ahab and he
cannot find you, he will kill me, although I your servant have revered the Lord
from my youth. Has it not been told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the
prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred of the Lord's prophets fifty to a
cave, and provided them with bread and water? Yet now you say, 'Go, tell your
lord that Elijah is here'; he will surely kill me." Elijah said, "As the Lord of
hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today." So
Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah.
When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, "Is it you, you troubler of
Israel?" He answered, "I have not troubled Israel; but you have, and your
father's house, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and
followed the Baals.
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