And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.
Using those stones, he built an altar dedicated to the LORD. Then he dug a trench around the altar that was large enough to hold about two seahs of seed (roughly 13 quarts).
Elijah built a proper altar to God and dug a large trench around it as part of preparing for a dramatic showdown to prove God's power.
📚 Historical Context
This takes place during Elijah's famous confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, where he challenged them to prove whose god was real. Elijah was rebuilding the altar of the LORD that had been torn down, using twelve stones to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. The trench would later be filled with water to make God's miracle of sending fire even more impressive.
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