1 Kings 18:27-42

²⁷At noon Elijah began to mock them. “Shout really loud!” he said. “Isn't he meant to be a god? Maybe he's meditating, or he's gone to the bathroom, or he's away on a trip! Maybe he's asleep and has to be woken up!”

²⁸They shouted even louder and cut themselves with swords and spears until they bled. This was their usual way of worshiping.

²⁹Noon came and went, and they went on with their manic “prophesying” until the time of the evening sacrifice. But no voice was heard, no one answered, no one was listening.

³⁰Then Elijah told everyone, “Come over here to me.” They went over to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down.

³¹Elijah took twelve stones to represent the tribes of the sons of Jacob. (Jacob was the one who received the Lord's message that said, “Israel shall be your name.”)

³²With the stones he built an altar in the Lord's name. He dug a ditch around it that could hold two seahs of seed.

³³He put the wood in place, cut the bull into pieces, and laid it on the wood. Then he told them, “Fill up four large jars with water and pour it over the offering and the wood.”

³⁴“Do it again,” he said. So they did. “Do it for a third time,” he said. So they did it for the third time.

³⁵The water ran down all over the altar and even filled the ditch.

³⁶At the time of the evening sacrifice, the prophet Elijah went over to the altar and prayed: “Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, demonstrate today that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that everything I have done has been at your command.

³⁷Answer me, Lord! Answer me, so that these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are bringing them back to you.”

³⁸Then the fire of the Lord came down and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the soil—it even licked up the water in the ditch!

³⁹When all the people saw this, they fell face down on the ground and shouted, “The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God!”

⁴⁰Then Elijah ordered them, “Grab hold of the prophets of Baal. Don't let any escape!” They grabbed them, and Elijah brought them down to the Kishon Valley and killed them there.

⁴¹Elijah told Ahab, “Go and eat and drink, for I hear the sound of a heavy rain coming.”

⁴²So Ahab went to eat and drink, but Elijah went to the top of Carmel. There he bent down to the ground, putting his face between his knees.