15. Elijah answered, “By the living Lord, whom I serve, I promise that I will present myself to the king today.”
16. So Obadiah went to King Ahab and told him, and Ahab set off to meet Elijah.
17. When Ahab saw him, he said, “So there you are — the worst troublemaker in Israel!”
18. “I'm not the troublemaker,” Elijah answered. “You are — you and your father. You are disobeying the Lord's commands and worshipping the idols of Baal.
19. Now order all the people of Israel to meet me at Mount Carmel. Bring along the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of the goddess Asherah who are supported by Queen Jezebel.”
20. So Ahab summoned all the Israelites and the prophets of Baal to meet at Mount Carmel.
21. Elijah went up to the people and said, “How much longer will it take you to make up your minds? If the Lord is God, worship him; but if Baal is God, worship him!” But the people didn't say a word.
22. Then Elijah said, “I am the only prophet of the Lord still left, but there are 450 prophets of Baal.
23. Bring two bulls; let the prophets of Baal take one, kill it, cut it in pieces, and put it on the wood — but don't light the fire. I will do the same with the other bull.
24. Then let the prophets of Baal pray to their god, and I will pray to the Lord, and the one who answers by sending fire — he is God.”The people shouted their approval.
25. Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Since there are so many of you, you take a bull and prepare it first. Pray to your god, but don't set fire to the wood.”
26. They took the bull that was brought to them, prepared it, and prayed to Baal until noon. They shouted, “Answer us, Baal!” and kept dancing round the altar they had built. But no answer came.
27. At noon Elijah started making fun of them: “Pray louder! He is a god! Maybe he is daydreaming or relieving himself, or perhaps he's gone on a journey! Or maybe he's sleeping, and you've got to wake him up!”
28. So the prophets prayed louder and cut themselves with knives and daggers, according to their ritual, until blood flowed.
29. They kept on ranting and raving until the middle of the afternoon; but no answer came, not a sound was heard.
30. Then Elijah said to the people, “Come closer to me,” and they all gathered round him. He set about repairing the altar of the Lord which had been torn down.
31. He took twelve stones, one for each of the twelve tribes named after the sons of Jacob, the man to whom the Lord had given the name Israel.
32. With these stones he rebuilt the altar for the worship of the Lord. He dug a trench round it, large enough to hold almost fourteen litres of water.