1 Kings Chapter 17

Elijah Predicts a Drought

¹ Elijah the Tishbite, a settler in Gilead, told Ahab,

“As Yahveh God of Israel lives that I serve, there won’t be dew or rain the next several years except when I say so.”

² A message from Yahveh came to him,

³ “Get away from here to the east and hide by Brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. ⁴ You’ll drink from the stream, and I’ve commanded the ravens to provide for you there.”

⁵ He went to live by Brook Cherith. ⁶ Ravens brought him bread and meat morning and evening, and he drank from the stream. ⁷ After a while it dried up because it hadn’t rained.

The Widow in Zarephath

⁸ Then a message from Yahveh came to him, ⁹ “Go to Zarephath, near Sidon, and stay. I’ve commanded a widow there to provide for you.” ¹⁰ He went to Zarephath. When he came to the city gate, a widow was gathering sticks. He called to her, “Please get me a little water in a jug to drink.”                                                                                                                              1 Kg 17:1-10

¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called to her to bring him a piece of bread too.

¹² She said,

“As Yahveh your God lives, I don’t have any, just a handful of flour in a bowl and a little oil in a jug. I’m gathering a few sticks so I can fix it for us to eat and die.”

¹³ Elijah told her,

“Don’t worry. Do what you’ve said but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out. Then you can make one for you and your boy. ¹⁴ Yahveh God of Israel says the bowl of flour won’t get empty, and the jug of oil won’t go dry before it rains.”

¹⁵ She did what he said; and she, her son, and household ate for many days. ¹⁶ The bowl didn’t get empty, and the jug didn’t go dry. 1 Kg 17:11-16

Elijah Resurrects the Widow’s Son

¹⁷ After that, her little boy got sick, so sick he quit breathing. ¹⁸ She said to Elijah, “What do I have to do with you, man of God? You’ve come to remind me of my sin and put my son to death!”

¹⁹ “Give him to me.” He took him from her arms to the upper room where he was staying and laid him on his own bed.

²⁰ He called out, “Yahveh my God, have you brought misfortune on the widow I’ve been staying with by causing her son to die?” ²¹ He stretched out on the child three times and called out again, “Please bring him back.”

²² Yahveh listened, and the child revived.

²³ Elijah brought him down to his mother. “See, he’s alive.”

²⁴ She told him, “Now I know for sure you’re a man of God and what you say from Yahveh is true.”             1 Kg 17:17-24