1 Kings 18:24

18:24 Then you ¹  will invoke the name of your god, and I will invoke the name of the Lord. The god who responds with fire will demonstrate that he is the true God.” ²  All the people responded, “This will be a fair test.” ³ 

1 Kings 18:26

18:26 So they took a bull, as he had suggested, ⁴  and prepared it. They invoked the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “Baal, answer us.” But there was no sound and no answer. They jumped ⁵  around on the altar they had made. ⁶ 

1 Kings 18:29

18:29 Throughout the afternoon they were in an ecstatic frenzy, ⁷  but there was no sound, no answer, and no response. ⁸ 

1 Kings 18:36-37

18:36 When it was time for the evening offering, ⁹  Elijah the prophet approached the altar ¹⁰  and prayed: “O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, prove ¹¹  today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 18:37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are the true God ¹²  and that you are winning back their allegiance.” ¹³ 

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¹ tn Elijah now directly addresses the prophets.

² tn Heb “the God.”

³ tn Heb “The matter [i.e., proposal] is good [i.e., acceptable].”

⁴ tn Heb “and they took the bull which he allowed them.”

⁵ tn Heb “limped” (the same verb is used in v. 21).

⁶ tc The MT has “which he made,” but some medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions have the plural form of the verb.

⁷ tn Heb “when noon passed they prophesied until the offering up of the offering.”

⁸ tc The Old Greek translation and Syriac Peshitta include the following words here: “When it was time to offer the sacrifice, Elijah the Tishbite spoke to the prophets of the abominations: ‘Stand aside for the time being, and I will offer my burnt offering.’ So they stood aside and departed.”

sn In 2 Kgs 4:31 the words “there was no sound and there was no response” are used to describe a dead boy. Similar words are used here to describe the god Baal as dead and therefore unresponsive.

⁹ tn Heb “at the offering up of the offering.”

¹⁰ tn The words “the altar” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

¹¹ tn Heb “let it be known.”

¹² tn Heb “the God.”

¹³ tn Heb “that you are turning their heart[s] back.”