13. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood in the entrance to the cave.And a voice came to him and said, “Why are you here, Elijah?”
14. And he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, Lord of Hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.”
15. The Lord said to him, “Go, return on the road through the Wilderness of Damascus, and when you arrive, anoint Hazael to be king over Aram.
16. And you shall anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, to be king over Israel, and you shall anoint Elisha, the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah, to be prophet in your place.
17. He who escapes the sword of Hazael will be killed by Jehu, and he who escapes the sword of Jehu will be killed by Elisha.
18. Still, I have preserved seven thousand men in Israel for Myself, all of whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”
19. So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him and he with the twelfth, and Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak on him.
20. He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow you.”And he said to him, “Go back, for what have I done to you?”
21. So he returned from following him and took a yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes from the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he got up and went after Elijah and ministered to him.