31. Elijah found twelve stones. There was one stone for each of the twelve tribes. These twelve tribes were named for the twelve sons of Jacob, the man who the Lord had named Israel.
32. Elijah used these stones to repair the altar to honor the Lord. He dug a small ditch around the altar. It was wide enough and deep enough to hold about 4 gallons of water.
33. Then Elijah put the wood on the altar. He cut the bull into pieces and laid the pieces on the wood.
34. Then he said, “Fill four jars with water. Pour the water on the pieces of meat and on the wood.” Then Elijah said, “Do it again.” Then he said, “Do it a third time.”
35. The water ran down off the altar and filled the ditch.
36. At about the time for the afternoon sacrifice, the prophet Elijah approached the altar and prayed, “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I ask you now to prove that you are the God of Israel and that I am your servant. Show these people that it was you who commanded me to do all these things.
37. Lord, answer my prayer. Show these people that you, Lord, are God and that you are the one who is bringing them back to you.”
38. Then fire came down from the Lord and burned the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the ground around the altar. Then it dried up all the water in the ditch.
39. All the people saw this happen and bowed down to the ground and began saying, “The Lord is God! The Lord is God!”
40. Then Elijah said, “Get the prophets of Baal! Don’t let any of them escape!” So the people captured all the prophets. Then Elijah led them down to Kishon Creek and killed them all.
41. Then Elijah said to King Ahab, “Now go eat and drink. A heavy rain is coming.”
42. So King Ahab went to eat. At the same time Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel. At the top of the mountain, Elijah bent down. He put his head between his knees.
43. Then Elijah said to his servant, “Go up higher and look toward the sea.” The servant went and looked. He came back and said, “I saw nothing.” Elijah told him to go look again. This happened seven times.
44. The seventh time, the servant came back and said, “I saw a small cloud the size of a man’s fist that was coming in from the sea.” Elijah told the servant, “Go tell King Ahab to get his chariot ready and go home now. If he does not leave now, the rain will stop him.”