King James Version · The divided kingdom
1 Kings 18
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And it came to pass after many days, that to in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto ; and I will send upon the earth. And went to shew himself unto . And there was a sore in . And called , which was the governor of his house. (Now feared greatly: For it was so, when of , that took an hundred , and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) And said unto , Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the . So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: went one way by himself, and went another way by himself. And as was in , behold, met him: and he knew him, and fell on , and said, Art thou that my ? And he answered him, I am: go, tell thy , Behold, is here. And he said, What have I , that thou wouldest thy servant into the hand of , to me? As thy liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an of and nation, that they found thee not. And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy , Behold, is here. And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that of shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell , and he cannot find thee, he shall me: but I thy servant from my youth. Was it not told my what I did when slew of , how I hid an hundred men of ’s by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water? And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy , Behold, is here: and he shall me. And said, As of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him to day. 16So went to meet , and told him: and went to meet . And it came to pass, when saw , that said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy ’s house, in that ye have forsaken of , and thou hast followed . Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto , and of four hundred and fifty, and of the groves four hundred, which eat at ’s table. So sent unto all the , and gathered together unto . And came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if be , follow him: but if , then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. Then said unto the people, I, even I only, a of ; but ’s are four hundred and fifty men. 23Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no under: And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will of : and the that answereth by , let him be . And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken. 25And said unto of , Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and of your gods, but put no under. And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of from morning even until noon, saying, O , hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the which was made. And it came to pass at noon, that mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a ; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till gushed out upon them. And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the of the evening , that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded. And said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the of that was broken down. And took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of , unto whom , saying, Israel shall be thy name: And with the stones he built an in the name of : and he made a trench about the , as great as would contain two measures of . And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt , and on the wood. And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. And the water ran round about the ; and he filled the trench also with water. And it came to pass at the time of the of the evening , that the came near, and said, of , , and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O , hear me, that this people may know that thou art , and that thou hast turned their back again. Then the of fell, and consumed the burnt , and the wood, and the stones, and , and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, , he is the ; , he is the . And said unto them, Take of ; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and brought them down to the brook , and slew them there. And said unto , Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of . So went up to eat and to drink. And went up to the top of ; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put between his knees, And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto , Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the stop thee not. And it came to pass in the mean while, that the was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great . And rode, and went to . And the hand of was on ; and he girded up his loins, and ran before to the entrance of .
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The divided kingdom, 931 BC to 745 BC ›
Israel in the north and Judah in the south, often at odds, with Aram of Damascus as the immediate threat and Assyria growing in the distance.
- Aram of Damascus
- The immediate enemy for most of two centuries, close enough to raid every campaigning season and strong enough to take territory. Most of the wars in Kings that read like national emergencies are border wars with Damascus.
- Assyria
- Growing steadily in the distance. Shalmaneser III fights a coalition at Qarqar in 853 BC and his own inscription lists King Ahab of Israel among his opponents with two thousand chariots, the earliest Assyrian mention of an Israelite king. A later monument shows Jehu bowing and paying tribute. Assyria is not yet the destroyer, but it is already taking notes.
- Egypt
- Divided and unreliable, capable of the occasional raid, such as Shishak stripping the temple in Rehoboam's fifth year, but no longer an empire that governs the Levant.
- Further afield
- The Greeks adopt the alphabet, hold the first Olympiad by tradition in 776 BC, and begin to compose the Homeric poems. Rome is founded by tradition in 753 BC, a village of huts at this point. This is the century in which the classical world begins.