1 Kings 17

Elijah Predicts Drought

1Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of 12the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “3As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely 4there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” 2The word of the Lord came to him, saying, 3“Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is 5east of the Jordan. 4It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and 6I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” 5So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is 7east of the Jordan. 6The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. 7It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

8Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9“Arise, go to 8Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, 9I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and 10he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a 11jar, that I may drink.” 11As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” 12But she said, “12As the Lord your God lives, 13I have no 14bread, only a handful of flour in the 15bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering 16a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and 17die.” 13Then Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from 18it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. 14For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The 19bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil 20be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.’” 15So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. 16The 21bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil 22become empty, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah.

Elijah Raises the Widow’s Son

17Now it came about after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18So she said to Elijah, “23What do I have to do with you, O 24man of God? 25You have come to me to bring my iniquity to remembrance and to put my son to death!” 19He said to her, “Give me your son.” Then he took him from her bosom and carried him up to the upper room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed. 20He called to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, have You also brought calamity to the widow with whom I am 26staying, by causing her son to die?” 2127Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, I pray You, let this child’s life return 28to him.” 22The Lord heard the voice of Elijah, 29and the life of the child returned 30to him and he revived. 23Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” 24Then the woman said to Elijah, “31Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”