Elijah, who was from Tishbe but had settled in Gilead, said to Ahab, “I solemnly swear, as the Lord God of Israel whom I serve lives, there will be no dew or rain during the next few years unless I say so.”
But on that day I will treat the region of Goshen differently. That is where my people live. There won’t be any flies there. This way you will know that I, the Lord, am here in this land.
The Lord called you a large olive tree that has beautiful fruit to look at. He will set fire to you with a mighty storm, and your branches will be broken.
Get up and thresh, people of Zion. I will make your horns as hard as iron and your hoofs as hard as bronze. You will smash many nations into small pieces. You will claim their loot for the Lord, their wealth for the Lord of the whole earth.
“No one lights a lamp and hides it or puts it under a basket. Instead, everyone who lights a lamp puts it on a lamp stand so that those who come in will see its light.
But some of the olive branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive branch, have been grafted in their place. You get your nourishment from the roots of the olive tree.
At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the Lord’s promise, to stand in the Lord’s presence when they serve him as priests, and to praise his name, as they still do today.
The hidden meaning of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lamp stands is this: The seven stars are the messengers of the seven churches, and the seven lamp stands are the seven churches.