The subject appeared without recorded genealogy, declaring to King Ahab a drought that would hold until his word released it. He was thereafter sustained by ravens at the brook Cherith, and by a widow of Zarephath whose jar of flour and jug of oil did not fail.

At Mount Carmel the subject confronted the prophets of Baal before all Israel. Fire fell from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the water in the trench. The people fell on their faces and confessed YHWH as God.

Pursued by Jezebel, the subject fled to Horeb, where the divine presence passed by not in wind, earthquake, or fire, but in a low whisper. He was recommissioned and instructed to anoint successors, including the prophet Elisha.

The subject rebuked the house of Ahab over the seizure of Naboth's vineyard. He was ultimately taken up in a whirlwind by a chariot of fire, leaving his mantle to Elisha. No burial is recorded.

Reports associate the subject with the day of the LORD: he is foretold to return before it, and was observed conversing with Moses and the Messiah at a mountain transfiguration centuries later.