He said to his servant, “Please go back to ⌞Mount Carmel⌟, and look toward the sea.” He went up, looked, ⌞came back,⌟ and said, “There’s nothing.” Seven times Elijah told him, “Go back.”
When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his coat, went out, and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then the voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
and said, “I am ashamed, my God. I am embarrassed to look at you. Our sins have piled up over our heads, and our guilt is so overwhelming that it reaches heaven.
“As I live,” declares the king, whose name is the Lord of Armies, “someone who is like Mount Tabor among the mountains will come. Someone who is like Mount Carmel by the sea will come.
You, Lord, are righteous. But we—the men of Judah, the citizens of Jerusalem, and all the Israelites whom you scattered in countries near and far—are still ashamed because we have been unfaithful to you.
Joshua and the leaders of Israel tore their clothes in grief. They put dust on their heads and bowed down to the ground in front of the Lord’s ark. They stayed there until evening.