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Mount Carmel

A place in the Bible

A mountain range by the sea, in northern Israel. It is not the town of Carmel where Nabal lived.

What happened here

  1. Elijah and the prophets of Baal: Elijah asked that all Israel gather on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal. He asked the people how long they would keep limping between two sides.
  2. Fire from heaven: Elijah prayed, and fire came down from heaven and burned up the sacrifice. The people fell on their faces and said, “The Lord is God.”
  3. The rain: afterward Elijah went up to the top of Carmel and began to pray with his face between his knees.
  4. The Carmelites: many centuries later, the Carmelite Order was born on Carmel. Our Lady of Mount Carmel takes her name from this mountain.

Today

It is Mount Carmel, next to the city of Haifa, in Israel.

Where it appears in the Bible

1 Kings 18:19-21; 1 Kings 18:36-39; 1 Kings 18:42

What the Bible says

1 Kings 18:19-21

19Nevertheless send now, and gather unto me all Israel, unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, who eat at Jezabel’s table. 20Achab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered together the prophets unto mount Carmel. 21And Elias coming to all the people, said: How long do you halt between two sides? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word.

1 Kings 18:36-39

36And when it was now time to offer the holocaust, Elias the prophet came near and said: O Lord God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel, shew this day that thou art the God of Israel, and I thy servant, and that according to thy commandment I have done all these things. 37Hear me, O Lord, hear me: that this people may learn, that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart again. 38Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39And when all the people saw this, they fell on their faces, and they said: The Lord he is God, the Lord he is God.

1 Kings 18:42

Achab went up to eat and drink: and Elias went up to the top of Carmel, and casting himself down upon the earth put his face between his knees,

Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), public domain.

Source: Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “Carmel”; Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “Carmelite Order”

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