² So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely,^(A) if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”^(B)

³ Elijah was afraid^[a] and ran^(C) for his life.^(D) When he came to Beersheba^(E) in Judah, he left his servant there, ⁴ while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush,^(F) sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life;^(G) I am no better than my ancestors.”