¹⁷ When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?”^{(A) 18} He answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.^{(B) 19} Now therefore have all Israel assemble for me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.”^(C)

³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come closer to me,” and all the people came closer to him. First he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down;^{(A) 31} Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be your name”;^{(B) 32} with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. Then he made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two measures of seed.^{(C) 33} Next he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.”^{(D) 34} Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time. Again he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time, ³⁵ so that the water ran all around the altar and filled the trench also with water.

³⁶ At the time of the offering of the oblation, the prophet Elijah came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding.^{(E) 37} Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have turned their hearts back.” ³⁸ Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust and even licked up the water that was in the trench.^{(F) 39} When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord indeed is God; the Lord indeed is God.”^{(G) 40} Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.” Then they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and killed them there.^(H)