And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

And call ye on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of Jehovah; and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

Call ye on the names of your gods, and I will call on the name of my Lord: and the God that shall answer by fire, let him be God. And all the people answering said: A very good proposal.

And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of Jehovah; and the god that answers by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, The word is good.

and ye have called in the name of your god, and I, I call in the name of Jehovah, and it hath been, the god who answereth by fire, He is the God.' And all the people answer and say, 'Good is the word.'

And do you make prayers to your god, and I will make a prayer to the Lord: and it will be clear that the one who gives an answer by fire is God. And all the people in answer said, It is well said.

Call upon the names of your gods. And I will call on the name of my Lord. And the God who will have heeded with fire, let him be God." And in response, all the people said, "Excellent proposition."

The God that answereth by fire - God had frequently before consumed offerings with supernatural fire Leviticus 9:24; Judges 6:21. The Baal-worshippers were no doubt in the habit of attributing thunder and lightning to their gods - the great Nature-power - and thus had no excuse for declining Elijah's challenge.

The God that answereth by fire - Elijah gave them every advantage when he granted that the God who answered by fire should be acknowledged as the true God; for as the Baal who was worshipped here was incontestably Apollo, or the sun, he was therefore the god of fire, and had only to work in his own element.

And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth (h) by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.
(h) By sending down fire from heaven to burn the sacrifice.

And call ye on the name of your gods,.... The Baalim, the many lords and gods they served:
and I will call on the name of the Lord; the one true Jehovah and God of Israel, whom I serve:
and the God that answereth by fire; by causing fire to come down upon the sacrifice, and consume it:
let him be God; accounted, owned, and acknowledged as the true God, and so afterwards worshipped as such:
and all the people answered and said, it is well spoken; they thought it a very reasonable proposal, a very good method to determine the controversy, and come at the truth, and know who was the true God, and who not.

By Fire - That shall consume the sacrifice by fire sent from heaven; which the people knew the true God used to do. It was a great condescension in God, that he would permit Baal to be a competitor with him. But thus God would have every mouth to be stopped, and all flesh become silent before him. And Elijah doubtless had a special commission from God, or he durst not have put it to this issue. But the case was extraordinary, and the judgment upon it would be of use not only then, but in all ages. Elijah does not say, The God that answers by water, tho' that was the thing the country needed, but that answers by fire, let him be God; because the atonement was to be made, before the judgment could be removed. The God therefore that has power to pardon sin, and to signify that by consuming the sin - offering, must needs be the God that can relieve us against the calamity.