19 Then King Ahav told Izevel (Jezebel) everything that Eliyyah, including how he’d killed all of Baal’s prophets, 2 so she sent this message to Eliyyah, “May the gods kill me or do worse if I haven’t done with your life what you did to those prophets by this time tomorrow.” 3 Hearing that, he packed up and fled for his life to Beersheva in Yehudah, where he left his servant. 4 Then he went an extra day’s travel further south into the wilderness where he sat down under a broom bush and prayed that he might be allowed to die, saying, “This is now too much, Yahweh. Take my life, because I’m no better than my ancestors.”.[ref]

5 Then he laid down and slept under the broom bush, until he was suddenly woken by a messenger from Yahweh telling him to get up and eat. 6 Eliyyah looked around and wow, there was some bread near his head that had been cooked on glowing coals, and a jug of water. He got up and ate and drank, and they lay down again. 7 Then Yahweh’s messenger returned a second time and prodded him and said, “Get up and eat, because otherwise the journey ahead will be too much for you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank. That food lasted his for forty days as he travelled to God’s mountain, Horeb (Mt. Sinai). 9 He entered a cave there and overnighted in the cave, then suddenly Yahweh spoke to him, asking, “What are you doing here, Eliyyah?”

10 “I’ve been very zealous for you, army commander Yahweh,” he replied. “But the Israeli people have abandoned your agreement, and they’ve torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. So here I am, left by myself while meanwhile they’re trying to kill me.”[ref]

11 Then Yahweh said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in front of me, Yahweh. Then look, I’m about to go past you.” Then there was an incredibly strong wind that hit the mountain and broke off bits of rock that then shattered. But Yahweh wasn’t in the wind, and after the wind there was an earthquake but Yahweh wasn’t in the earthquake either. 12 After the earthquake there was a fire, but Yahweh wasn’t in the fire.

Then after the fire, there was the sound of a soft whisper. 13 When Eliyyah heard that, he wrapped his cloak around his face and went out and stood at the opening of the cave, and he heard a voice ask him, “Why are you here, Eliyyah?”

14 “I’ve been very zealous for you, army commander Yahweh,” he replied, “But the Israeli people have abandoned your agreement, and they’ve torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. So here I am, left by myself while meanwhile they’re trying to kill me.”

15 Then Yahweh told him, “Go back towards the Damascus wilderness, then you must go and anoint Hazael as king over Aram (Syria).[ref] 16 Also you need to anoint Nimshi’s son Yehu as king over Israel, and you must anoint Shafat’s son Elisha from Abel-Meholah to succeed you as prophet.[ref] 17 In the future, anyone who escapes from being killed by Hazael’s army will be killed by Yehu’s army will be killed by Elisha. 18 But I’ve still got seven thousand people in Israel who’ve never bowed to Baal or kissed his image.”[ref]

7 Elisha went to Aram’s capital Damascus at a time when King Ben-Hadad of Aram (Syria) was very sick, and someone told him that the man of God was in town. 8 The king instructed an official named Haza’el, “Take a gift with you and go and meet the man of God. Then will inquire from Yahweh through him to find out if I’ll recover from this sickness?” 9 So Haza’el went to meet Elisha and taking presents with him loaded on forty camels—some of every good thing that he could find in Damascus. He went and stood in front of him and asked, “Your servant, King Ben-Hadad sent me to ask you if he’ll recover from his sickness?”

10 “Go and tell him that he’ll surely live,” Elisha answered. “But Yahweh has shown me that he’ll definitely die.” 11 Then Elisha stared at him until Haza’el felt embarrassed, and then the man of God started to cry.

12 “Why are you crying, my master?” Haza’el asked.

“Because I know what evil things you’ll do to the Israelis,” he said. “You’ll burn down their fortresses and kill their young men with the sword. You’ll smash their children’s heads on rocks, and rip open the bellies of their pregnant women.”

13 Haza’el asked, “But how could your servant be in a position to do such a major thing when he’s only minor, like a dog in the palace?”

“Yahweh has let me see you as king over Aram.” Elisha replied.

9 Then the prophet Elisha called to one of the prophets-in-training and told him, “Tuck your robe in, take this flask of oil, and hurry to Ramot-Gilead. 2 When you get there, you’ll see Yehu (Jehu) (the son of Nimshi’s son Yehoshafat) there. Take him into a private inner room, away from his brothers, 3 and pour some of the olive oil over his head and tell him that Yahweh says that he’s anointed him as king over Israel. Then open the door and get out of there fast.” 4 So the young prophet went to Ramot-Gilead, 5 and when he arrived, he was surprised to see the army captains sitting there. He said, “I need to talk to you, captain.”

“Which one of us?” Yehu asked.

“It’s a message for you, captain,” he said. 6 So Yehu got up, and went over to the house where the prophet poured the oil on his head and told him, “Israel’s God Yahweh says that he’s anointed you as king over Yahweh’s people—over Israel.