rded up
his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

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_How Elijah, Threatened by Queen Jezebel, Lost Courage.
How He Made a Long Journey to Hear God Speak_.

And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had slain
all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto
Elijah, saying, "So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make
not thy life as the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time."

And when he heard this, he arose, and fled for his life, and came to
Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. But
he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat
down under a juniper tree: and he prayed that he might die; and said,
"It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better
than my fathers."

And he lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, an angel
touched him, and said unto him, "Arise and eat."

And he looked, and, behold, there was at his head a cake baked on the
coals, and a cruse of water. And he ate and drank, and laid him down
again. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and
touched him, and said, "Arise and eat; because the journey is too
great for thee."

And he arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food
forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. And he came
thither to a cave and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord
came to him, and he said to him, "What doest thou here, Elijah?"

{124}

And he said, "I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts;
for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down
thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword: and I, even I
only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away."

And he said, "Go forth; and stand upon the mount before the Lord."

And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the
mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks 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: and after the earthquake a fire; but the
Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And,
when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out,
and stood at the entrance of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice
unto him, and said, "What doest thou here, Elijah?"

And he said, "I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of