This document is about Elijah (prophet). For other homonyms, please refer to the Elijah document. 
Elijah is the most representative prophet in the Old Testament era. He was a Tishbite.
1 Kings 17:1Then Yahweh’s word came to him, saying,
그가 활동하던 시기의 북이스라엘 왕국은 아합왕이 다스리고 있었는데, 가장 악한 왕이 다스리던 시기로 성경은 기록하고 있다. 하나님이 이런 악한 아합왕을 징계하기 위해 비를 내리지 않으셨다고 예언하고는 그릿 시냇가에 숨었다.
1 Kings 17:1Then Yahweh’s word came to him, saying,1 Kings 17:2“Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan.1 Kings 17:3You shall drink from the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”1 Kings 17:4So he went and did according to Yahweh’s word; for he went and lived by the brook Cherith that is before the Jordan.1 Kings 17:5The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.1 Kings 17:6After a while, the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.1 Kings 17:7Yahweh’s word came to him, saying,
그러던 중, 하나님은 사르밧에 살고 있는 한 과부에게 가라고 하신다. 그가 사르밧으로 갔을 때에, 그 과부는 집에 있는 마지막 곡식 가루를 가지고 마지막 떡을 만들어 먹은 뒤, 죽음을 기다릴 생각이었다.
1 Kings 17:8“Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you.”1 Kings 17:9So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her, and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.”1 Kings 17:10As she was going to get it, he called to her, and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”1 Kings 17:11She said, “As Yahweh your God lives, I don’t have a cake, but a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jar. Behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”1 Kings 17:12Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you have said; but make me a little cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for you and for your son.1 Kings 17:13For Yahweh, the God of Israel says, ‘The jar of meal will not run out, and the jar of oil will not fail, until the day that Yahweh sends rain on the earth.’ ”1 Kings 17:14She went and did according to the saying of Elijah; and she, and he, and her house, ate many days.1 Kings 17:15The jar of meal didn’t run out, and the jar of oil didn’t fail, according to Yahweh’s word, which he spoke by Elijah.1 Kings 17:16After these things, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.
1 Kings 17:17She said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!”1 Kings 17:18He said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the room where he stayed, and laid him on his own bed.1 Kings 17:19He cried to Yahweh, and said, “Yahweh my God, have you also brought evil on the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?”1 Kings 17:20He stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to Yahweh, and said, “Yahweh my God, please let this child’s soul come into him again.”1 Kings 17:21Yahweh listened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.1 Kings 17:22Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the room into the house, and delivered him to his mother; and Elijah said, “Behold, your son lives.”1 Kings 17:23The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that Yahweh’s word in your mouth is truth.”1 Kings 17:24The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that Yahweh’s word in your mouth is truth.”
이후, 이스라엘 왕국의 백성들이 바알과 아세라를 섬기는 행위가 너무 심하자 이들의 선지자들과 갈멜 산에서 대결을 펼친다.
그 기세를 몰아 엘리야는 백성들과 함께 바알과 아세라의 선지자 850명을 기손 시내로 끌고가 죽게 하였다.
1 Kings 18:19So Ahab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together to Mount Carmel.1 Kings 18:20Elijah came near to all the people, and said, “How long will you waver between the two sides? If Yahweh is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” The people didn’t say a word.1 Kings 18:21Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left as a prophet of Yahweh; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred fifty men.1 Kings 18:22Let them therefore give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under; and I will dress the other bull, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under it.1 Kings 18:23You call on the name of your god, and I will call on Yahweh’s name. The God who answers by fire, let him be God.” All the people answered, “What you say is good.”1 Kings 18:24Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves, and dress it first; for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.”1 Kings 18:25They took the bull which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal) from morning even until noon, saying, “Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice, and nobody answered. They leaped about the altar which was made.1 Kings 18:26At noon, Elijah mocked them, and said, “Cry aloud; for he is a god. Either he is deep in thought, or he has gone somewhere, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he sleeps and must be awakened.”1 Kings 18:27They cried aloud, and cut themselves in their way with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them.1 Kings 18:28When midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the evening offering; but there was no voice, no answer, and nobody paid attention.1 Kings 18:29Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me!”; and all the people came near to him. He repaired Yahweh’s altar that had been thrown down.1 Kings 18:30Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom Yahweh’s word came, saying, “Israel shall be your name.”1 Kings 18:31With the stones he built an altar in Yahweh’s name. He made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two seahs of seed.1 Kings 18:32He put the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, “Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering, and on the wood.”1 Kings 18:33He said, “Do it a second time;” and they did it the second time. He said, “Do it a third time;” and they did it the third time.1 Kings 18:34The water ran around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.1 Kings 18:35At the time of the evening offering, Elijah the prophet came near, and said, “Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel), let it be known today that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.1 Kings 18:36Hear me, Yahweh, hear me, that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God, and that you have turned their heart back again.”1 Kings 18:37Then Yahweh’s fire fell, and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.1 Kings 18:38When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces. They said, “Yahweh, he is God! Yahweh, he is God!”1 Kings 18:39Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Don’t let one of them escape!” They seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and killed them there.1 Kings 18:40Elijah said to Ahab, “Get up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.”
이 소식을 들은 왕비 이세벨은 매두 분노하여 엘리야를 죽이려고 하였다. 낙담한 엘리야가 로뎀 나무아래서 불평할 때에 하나님의 천사가 나타아 먹이고 위로하여 힘을 얻었다. 하나님은 엘리야에게 호렙산으로 가게 하시고, 엘리야는 호렙산에서 하나님의 음성을 듣게 된다.
1 Kings 19:1Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I don’t make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time!”1 Kings 19:2When he saw that, he arose, and ran for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.1 Kings 19:3But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree. Then he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough. Now, O Yahweh, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.”1 Kings 19:4He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat!”1 Kings 19:5He looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on the coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again.1 Kings 19:6Yahweh’s angel came again the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.”
이런 예언을 따라 엘리사를 제자로 삼는다.
1 Kings 19:19Elisha left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, “Let me please kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” He said to him, “Go back again; for what have I done to you?”1 Kings 19:20He returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, and killed them, and boiled their meat with the instruments of the oxen, and gave to the people, and they ate. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and served him.1 Kings 19:21He returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, and killed them, and boiled their meat with the instruments of the oxen, and gave to the people, and they ate. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and served him.
아합이 나봇을 거짓 증언으로 죽이고 포도원을 빼았자 왕에게 나아가 죽을 것을 선포한다.
1 Kings 21:17“Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who dwells in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it.1 Kings 21:18You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “Have you killed and also taken possession?” ’ You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs will lick your blood, even yours.” ’ ”1 Kings 21:19Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, my enemy?” He answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in Yahweh’s sight.
아합의 사후, 아하시야가 불렀을 때 거절하다가 가서 왕이 죽을 것을 예언한다.
2 Kings 1:9Elijah answered to the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from the sky, and consume you and your fifty!” Then fire came down from the sky, and consumed him and his fifty.2 Kings 1:10Again he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. He answered him, “Man of God, the king has said, ‘Come down quickly!’ ”2 Kings 1:11Elijah answered them, “If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from the sky, and consume you and your fifty!” Then God’s fire came down from the sky, and consumed him and his fifty.2 Kings 1:12Again he sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. The third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him, and said to him, “Man of God, please let my life, and the life of these fifty of your servants, be precious in your sight.2 Kings 1:13Behold, fire came down from the sky, and consumed the last two captains of fifty with their fifties. But now let my life be precious in your sight.”2 Kings 1:14Yahweh’s angel said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Don’t be afraid of him.” Then he arose, and went down with him to the king.2 Kings 1:15He said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? Therefore you will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you will surely die.’ ”2 Kings 1:16So he died according to Yahweh’s word which Elijah had spoken. Jehoram began to reign in his place in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, because he had no son.
예수님께서는 그의 성정과 재능이 세례 요한과 비슷하다고 하셨다.
Luke 1:17Zacharias said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”
성경에서는 모세가 제사장의 대표, 엘리야가 선지자의 대표, 다윗이 왕의 대표로 여겨졌다.
Matthew 17:3Peter answered, and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you want, let’s make three tents here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”