Atomic Bible

A prophet during the reigns of Ahab and Ahaziah.

Elijah

Named in 92 verses across 10 books, first in 1 Kings 17:1.

אֵלִיָּהElijah

ἩλίαςElijah

The name means “God the Lord, the strong Lord.” Hitchcock's Bible Names, 1869

About Elijah Written by AI

Elijah was a prominent prophet in Israel during the reigns of King Ahab and his son Ahaziah (1Ki.17-2Ki.2). He is introduced as a Tishbite from Gilead, who proclaimed a drought in Israel as a judgment from God (1 Kings 17:1). During the drought, God miraculously provided for Elijah through ravens and a widow in Zarephath (1 Kings 17:2 to 16). Elijah famously confronted the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, demonstrating the power of the true God and exposing the false prophets (1Ki.18). He also confronted King Ahab and Queen Jezebel for their wickedness, particularly in the case of Naboth's vineyard (1Ki.21). Elijah anointed Elisha as his successor and was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind, leaving behind his mantle for Elisha (2Ki.2). He is mentioned in the New Testament as a forerunner to John the Baptist (Matthew 11:14; Luke 1:17) and as appearing with Moses at Jesus' transfiguration (Matthew 17:3 to 4; Mark 9:4 to 5; Luke 9:30 to 33). Elijah is also referenced as an example of powerful prayer (James 5:17 to 18) and as a prophet whom God had preserved a remnant of faithful Israelites (Romans 11:2 to 4). The prophet Malachi foretold that Elijah would return before the coming of the Messiah (Malachi 4:5 to 6).

Drafted by an AI model for STEPBible's TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Check it against the verses below.

Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897

This entry is on the name Elijah, and may cover more than one person or place by that name.

Whose God is Jehovah. (1.) “The Tishbite,” the “Elias” of the New Testament, is suddenly introduced to our notice in 1 Kings 17:1 as delivering a message from the Lord to Ahab. There is mention made of a town called Thisbe, south of Kadesh, but it is impossible to say whether this was the place referred to in the name given to the prophet.

Having delivered his message to Ahab, he retired at the command of God to a hiding-place by the brook Cherith, beyond Jordan, where he was fed by ravens. When the brook dried up God sent him to the widow of Zarephath, a city of Zidon, from whose scanty store he was supported for the space of two years. During this period the widow’s son died, and was restored to life by Elijah (1 Kings 17: 2-24).

Read the rest of the entry

During all these two years a famine prevailed in the land. At the close of this period of retirement and of preparation for his work (comp. Gal. 1:17, 18) Elijah met Obadiah, one of Ahab’s officers, whom he had sent out to seek for pasturage for the cattle, and bade him go and tell his master that Elijah was there. The king came and met Elijah, and reproached him as the troubler of Israel. It was then proposed that sacrifices should be publicly offered, for the purpose of determining whether Baal or Jehovah were the true God. This was done on Carmel, with the result that the people fell on their faces, crying, “The Lord, he is the God.” Thus was accomplished the great work of Elijah’s ministry. The prophets of Baal were then put to death by the order of Elijah. Not one of them escaped. Then immediately followed rain, according to the word of Elijah, and in answer to his prayer (James 5:18).

Jezebel, enraged at the fate that had befallen her priests of Baal, threatened to put Elijah to death (1 Kings 19:1-13). He therefore fled in alarm to Beersheba, and thence went alone a day’s journey into the wilderness, and sat down in despondency under a juniper tree. As he slept an angel touched him, and said unto him, “Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.” He arose and found a cake and a cruse of water. Having partaken of the provision thus miraculously supplied, he went forward on his solitary way for forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God, where he took up his abode in a cave. Here the Lord appeared unto him and said, “What dost thou here, Elijah?” In answer to his despondent words God manifests to him his glory, and then directs him to return to Damascus and anoint Hazael king over Syria, and Jehu king over Israel, and Elisha to be prophet in his room (1 Kings 19:13-21; comp. 2 Kings 8:7-15; 9:1-10).

Some six years after this he warned Ahab and Jezebel of the violent deaths they would die (1 Kings 21:19-24; 22:38). He also, four years afterwards, warned Ahaziah (q.v.), who had succeeded his father Ahab, of his approaching death (2 Kings 1:1-16). (See NABOTH.) During these intervals he probably withdrew to some quiet retirement, no one knew where. His interview with Ahaziah’s messengers on the way to Ekron, and the account of the destruction of his captains with their fifties, suggest the idea that he may have been in retirement at this time on Mount Carmel.

The time now drew near when he was to be taken up into heaven (2 Kings 2:1-12). He had a presentiment of what was awaiting him. He went down to Gilgal, where was a school of the prophets, and where his successor Elisha, whom he had anointed some years before, resided. Elisha was solemnized by the thought of his master’s leaving him, and refused to be parted from him. “They two went on,” and came to Bethel and Jericho, and crossed the Jordan, the waters of which were “divided hither and thither” when smitten with Elijah’s mantle. Arrived at the borders of Gilead, which Elijah had left many years before, it “came to pass as they still went on and talked” they were suddenly separated by a chariot and horses of fire; and “Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven, “Elisha receiving his mantle, which fell from him as he ascended.

No one of the old prophets is so frequently referred to in the New Testament. The priests and Levites said to the Baptist (John 1:25), “Why baptizest thou, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias?” Paul (Rom. 11:2) refers to an incident in his history to illustrate his argument that God had not cast away his people. James (5:17) finds in him an illustration of the power of prayer. (See also Luke 4:25; 9:54.) He was a type of John the Baptist in the sternness and power of his reproofs (Luke 9:8). He was the Elijah that “must first come” (Matt. 11:11, 14), the forerunner of our Lord announced by Malachi. Even outwardly the Baptist corresponded so closely to the earlier prophet that he might be styled a second Elijah. In him we see “the same connection with a wild and wilderness country; the same long retirement in the desert; the same sudden, startling entrance on his work (1 Kings 17:1; Luke 3:2); even the same dress, a hairy garment, and a leathern girdle about the loins (2 Kings 1:8; Matt. 3:4).”

How deep the impression was which Elijah made “on the mind of the nation may be judged from the fixed belief, which rested on the words of Malachi (4:5, 6), which many centuries after prevailed that he would again appear for the relief and restoration of the country. Each remarkable person as he arrives on the scene, be his habits and characteristics what they may, the stern John equally with his gentle Successor, is proclaimed to be Elijah (Matt. 11:13, 14; 16:14; 17:10; Mark 9:11; 15:35; Luke 9:7, 8; John 1:21). His appearance in glory on the mount of transfiguration does not seem to have startled the disciples. They were ‘sore afraid,’ but not apparently surprised.”

(2.) The Elijah spoken of in 2 Chr. 21:12-15 is by some supposed to be a different person from the foregoing. He lived in the time of Jehoram, to whom he sent a letter of warning (comp. 1 Chr. 28:19; Jer. 36), and acted as a prophet in Judah; while the Tishbite was a prophet of the northern kingdom. But there does not seem any necessity for concluding that the writer of this letter was some other Elijah than the Tishbite. It may be supposed either that Elijah anticipated the character of Jehoram, and so wrote the warning message, which was preserved in the schools of the prophets till Jehoram ascended the throne after the Tishbite’s translation, or that the translation did not actually take place till after the accession of Jehoram to the throne (2 Chr. 21:12; 2 Kings 8:16). The events of 2 Kings 2 may not be recorded in chronological order, and thus there may be room for the opinion that Elijah was still alive in the beginning of Jehoram’s reign.

M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary, third edition (1897), public domain, from CrossWire. Shown as written; its Scripture quotes are from older translations.

GenesisMatthewRevelation

Where the Bible names him

  1. 1 Kings 17:1

    Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”

  2. 1 Kings 17:13

    “Do not be afraid,” Elijah said to her. “Go and do as you have said. But first make me a small cake of bread from what you have, and bring it out to me. Afterward, make some for yourself and your son,

  3. 1 Kings 17:15

    So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and there was food every day for Elijah and the woman and her household.

  4. 1 Kings 17:16

    The jar of flour was not exhausted and the jug of oil did not run dry, according to the word that the LORD had spoken through Elijah.

  5. 1 Kings 17:18

    “O man of God,” said the woman to Elijah, “what have you done to me? Have you come to remind me of my iniquity and cause the death of my son?”

  6. 1 Kings 17:22

    And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah, and the child’s life returned to him, and he lived.

  7. 1 Kings 17:23

    Then Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. “Look, your son is alive,” Elijah declared.

  8. 1 Kings 17:24

    Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is truth.”

  9. 1 Kings 18:1

    After a long time, in the third year of the drought, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the face of the earth.”

  10. 1 Kings 18:2

    So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria,

  11. 1 Kings 18:7

    Now as Obadiah went on his way, Elijah suddenly met him. When Obadiah recognized him, he fell facedown and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?”

  12. 1 Kings 18:8

    “It is I,” he answered. “Go tell your master, ‘Elijah is here!’”

  13. 1 Kings 18:11

    And now you say, ‘Go tell your master that Elijah is here!’

  14. 1 Kings 18:14

    And now you say, ‘Go tell your lord that Elijah is here!’ He will kill me!”

  15. 1 Kings 18:15

    Then Elijah said, “As surely as the LORD of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will present myself to Ahab today.”

  16. 1 Kings 18:16

    So Obadiah went to inform Ahab, who went to meet Elijah.

  17. 1 Kings 18:17

    When Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?”

  18. 1 Kings 18:21

    Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people did not answer a word.

  19. 1 Kings 18:22

    Then Elijah said to the people, “I am the only remaining prophet of the LORD, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets.

  20. 1 Kings 18:25

    Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Since you are so numerous, choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first. Then call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.”

  21. 1 Kings 18:27

    At noon Elijah began to taunt them, saying, “Shout louder, for he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or occupied, or on a journey. Perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened!”

  22. 1 Kings 18:30

    Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people approached him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD that had been torn down.

  23. 1 Kings 18:31

    And Elijah took twelve stones, one for each tribe of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come and said, “Israel shall be your name.”

  24. 1 Kings 18:36

    At the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached the altar and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and have done all these things at Your command.

  25. 1 Kings 18:40

    Then Elijah ordered them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let a single one escape.” So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered them there.

  26. 1 Kings 18:41

    And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.”

  27. 1 Kings 18:42

    So Ahab went up to eat and drink. But Elijah climbed to the summit of Carmel, bent down on the ground, and put his face between his knees.

  28. 1 Kings 18:46

    And the hand of the LORD came upon Elijah, and he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

  29. 1 Kings 19:1

    Now Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

  30. 1 Kings 19:2

    So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I have not made your life like the lives of those you killed!”

  31. 1 Kings 19:9

    There Elijah entered a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

  32. 1 Kings 19:13

    When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

  33. 1 Kings 19:19

    So Elijah departed and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve teams of oxen, and he was with the twelfth team. Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak around him.

  34. 1 Kings 19:20

    So Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, and then I will follow you.” “Go on back,” Elijah replied, “for what have I done to you?”

  35. 1 Kings 19:21

    So Elisha turned back from him, took his pair of oxen, and slaughtered them. Using the oxen’s equipment for fuel, he cooked the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow and serve Elijah.

  36. 1 Kings 21:17

    Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

  37. 1 Kings 21:20

    When Elijah arrived, Ahab said to him, “So you have found me out, my enemy.” He replied, “I have found you out because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the LORD.

  38. 1 Kings 21:28

    Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying:

  39. 2 Kings 1:3

    But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are on your way to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’

  40. 2 Kings 1:4

    Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘You will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.’” So Elijah departed.

And 52 more

2 Kings 1:8, 1:10, 1:12, 1:13, 1:15, 1:17, 2:1, 2:2, 2:4, 2:6, 2:8, 2:9, 2:11, 2:13, 2:14, 2:15, 3:11, 9:36, 10:10, 10:17

2 Chronicles 21:12

Malachi 4:5

Matthew 11:14, 16:14, 17:3, 17:4, 17:10, 17:11, 17:12, 27:47, 27:49

Mark 6:15, 8:28, 9:4, 9:5, 9:11, 9:12, 9:13, 15:35, 15:36

Luke 1:17, 4:25, 4:26, 9:8, 9:19, 9:30, 9:33, 9:54

John 1:21, 1:25

Romans 11:2

James 5:17

From STEPBible's TIPNR, Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0): names, family, references and the AI written article. Verse text is the BSB.