Elijah on Mt Carmel — Bible story for kids

For three years, no rain had fallen on the land. Then Elijah met King Ahab and told him to gather Israel and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Before the watching crowd, Elijah stood alone as God’s prophet.

“How long will you waver between two sides?” Elijah asked the people. If Yahweh was God, they should follow him. If Baal was god, they should follow Baal. But the people did not answer.

Elijah proposed a test. The prophets of Baal would prepare a bull on an altar, and Elijah would prepare another. They would lay wood beneath the offerings, but no one would light a fire. Then each would call upon their god. The God who answered with fire would be shown to be the true God.

The prophets of Baal went first. From morning until noon, they cried, “Baal, hear us!” They leaped around their altar, but nothing happened. Elijah told them to call louder. They shouted until their voices grew hoarse. They cut themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until they bled. All afternoon they continued their wild cries. Still, there was no voice, no answer, and no spark of fire.

At the time of the evening offering, Elijah called the people closer. He repaired Yahweh’s broken altar using twelve stones, one for each tribe of Israel. He dug a trench around it, arranged the wood, and placed the bull on top. Then he asked for four jars of water. The water was poured over the offering and the wood. “Do it a second time,” Elijah said. Then he asked them to do it a third time. Everything was soaked, and water filled the trench.

Elijah stepped forward and prayed a short, quiet prayer. He asked the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel to show that he was God and to turn the people’s hearts back to him.

At once, Yahweh’s fire fell. It consumed the bull, the wood, the stones, the dust, and every drop of water in the trench. When the people saw it, they fell facedown and cried, “Yahweh, he is God! Yahweh, he is God!” The prophets of Baal were seized and taken to the Kishon Brook, where Elijah put them to death.

Then Elijah told Ahab that heavy rain was coming. Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel, bowed low, and prayed. He sent his servant to look toward the sea. Six times the servant returned and said that he saw nothing. On the seventh time, he reported a tiny cloud rising from the sea, as small as a man’s hand.

Soon the sky grew dark with clouds. The wind blew, and heavy rain poured onto the dry, cracked land. Ahab rode toward Jezreel in his chariot, and God gave Elijah strength to run ahead of him. The long drought was over, and Israel had seen that Yahweh alone is God.