Day 9: The only one left

1 Kings 19:1-18 (OTB)

¹Ahab reported to Jezebel all that Elijah had accomplished, including how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. ²Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more so, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like the life of one of them.” ³Elijah, filled with fear, arose and fled for his life, arriving at Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, where he left his servant. ⁴But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree; and he asked for himself to die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” ⁵Then he lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree; but behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, “Arise, eat!” ⁶Then he looked, and behold, there was at his head a loaf of bread baked on hot stones, and a jug of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. ⁷But the angel of the Lord returned a second time, touched him, and said, “Arise, eat, for the journey is too much for you.” ⁸So he got up, ate and drank, and travelled in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. ⁹Then he came to a cave and spent the night there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁰He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of armies; for the sons of Israel have abandoned Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they sought to take my life.” ¹¹So He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and powerful wind was tearing out the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹²And after the earthquake, a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, the sound of a gentle whisper. ¹³When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁴Then he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of armies; for the sons of Israel have abandoned Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they sought to take my life.” ¹⁵The Lord instructed him, “Go, return by the way you came to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram; ¹⁶and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint as king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. ¹⁷And it shall be that whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will put to death, and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha will put to death. ¹⁸Yet I will preserve seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”