1 Kings 17
17
Elijah Visits a Widow in Sidonian Territory
1 Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As certainly as the Lord God of Israel lives (whom I serve),#tn Heb “before whom I stand.” there will be no dew or rain in the years ahead unless I give the command.”#tn Heb “except at the command of my word.” 2 The Lord told him:#tn Heb “and the word of the Lord came to him, saying.” 3 “Leave here and travel eastward. Hide out in the Kerith Valley near the Jordan. 4 Drink from the stream; I have already told#tn Heb “commanded.” the ravens to bring you food#tn Heb “to provide for you.” there.” 5 So he did#tn Heb “So he went and did.” as the Lord told him; he went and lived in the Kerith Valley near the Jordan. 6 The ravens would bring him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he would drink from the stream.
7 After a while,#tn Heb “And it came about at the end of days.” the stream dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 The Lord told him,#tn Heb “And the word of the Lord came to him, saying.” 9 “Get up, go to Zarephath in Sidonian territory, and live there. I have already told#tn Heb “Look, I have commanded.” a widow who lives there to provide for you.” 10 So he got up and went to Zarephath. When he went through the city gate, there was a widow gathering wood. He called out to her, “Please give me a cup#tn Heb “a little.” of water, so I can take a drink.” 11 As she went to get it, he called out to her, “Please bring me a piece of bread.”#tn The Hebrew text also includes the phrase “in your hand.” 12 She said, “As certainly as the Lord your God lives, I have no food, except for a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. Right now I am gathering a couple of sticks for a fire. Then I’m going home to make one final meal for my son and myself. After we have eaten that, we will die of starvation.”#tn Heb “Look, I am gathering two sticks and then I will go and make it for me and my son and we will eat it and we will die.” 13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you planned.#tn Heb “according to your word.” But first make a small cake for me and bring it to me; then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘The jar of flour will not be empty and the jug of oil will not run out until the day the Lord makes it rain on the surface of the ground.’” 15 She went and did as Elijah told her; there was always enough food for Elijah and for her and her family.#tn Heb “and she ate, she and he and her house [for] days.” 16 The jar of flour was never empty and the jug of oil never ran out, just as the Lord had promised#tn Heb “out, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke.” through Elijah.
17 After this#tn Heb “after these things.” the son of the woman who owned the house got sick. His illness was so severe he could no longer breathe. 18 She asked Elijah, “Why, prophet, have you come#tn Heb “What to me and to you, man of God, that you have come.” to me to confront me with#tn Heb “to make me remember.” my sin and kill my son?” 19 He said to her, “Hand me your son.” He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him down on his bed. 20 Then he called out to the Lord, “O Lord, my God, are you also bringing disaster on this widow I am staying with by killing her son?” 21 He stretched out over the boy three times and called out to the Lord, “O Lord, my God, please let this boy’s breath return to him.” 22 The Lord answered Elijah’s prayer; the boy’s breath returned to him and he lived. 23 Elijah took the boy, brought him down from the upper room to the house, and handed him to his mother. Elijah then said, “See, your son is alive!” 24 The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a prophet and that the Lord really does speak through you.”#tn Heb “you are a man of God and the word of the Lord is truly in your mouth.”sn This episode is especially significant in light of Ahab’s decision to promote Baal worship in Israel. In Canaanite mythology the drought that swept over the region (v. 1) would signal that Baal, a fertility god responsible for providing food for his subjects, had been defeated by the god of death and was imprisoned in the underworld. While Baal was overcome by death and unable to function like a king, Israel’s God demonstrated his sovereignty and superiority to death by providing food for a widow and restoring life to her son. And he did it all in Sidonian territory, Baal’s back yard, as it were. The episode demonstrates that Israel’s God, not Baal, is the true king who provides food and controls life and death. This polemic against Baalism reaches its climax in the next chapter, when the Lord proves that he, not Baal, controls the elements of the storm and determines when the rains will fall.
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1 Kings 17
17
1And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, saith unto Ahab, ‘Jehovah, God of Israel, liveth, before whom I have stood, there is not these years dew and rain, except according to my word.’
2And the word of Jehovah is unto him, saying,
3‘Go from this [place]; and thou hast turned for thee eastward, and been hidden by the brook Cherith, that [is] on the front of the Jordan,
4and it hath been, from the brook thou dost drink, and the ravens I have commanded to sustain thee there.’
5And he goeth and doth according to the word of Jehovah, yea, he goeth and dwelleth by the brook Cherith, that [is] on the front of the Jordan,
6and the ravens are bringing to him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening, and of the brook he drinketh.
7And it cometh to pass, at the end of days, that the brook drieth up, for there hath been no rain in the land,
8and the word of Jehovah is unto him, saying,
9‘Rise, go to Zarephath, that [is] to Zidon, and thou hast dwelt there; lo, I have commanded there a widow woman to sustain thee.’
10And he riseth, and goeth to Zarephath, and cometh in unto the opening of the city, and lo there, a widow woman gathering sticks, and he calleth unto her, and saith, ‘Bring, I pray thee, to me, a little water in a vessel, and I drink.’
11And she goeth to bring [it], and he calleth unto her and saith, ‘Bring, I pray thee, to me a morsel of bread in thy hand.’
12And she saith, ‘Jehovah thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but the fulness of the hand of meal in a pitcher, and a little oil in a dish; and lo, I am gathering two sticks, and have gone in and prepared it for myself, and for my son, and we have eaten it — and died.’
13And Elijah saith unto her, ‘Fear not, go, do according to thy word, only make for me thence a little cake, in the first place, and thou hast brought out to me; and for thee and for thy son make — last;
14for thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, The pitcher of meal is not consumed, and the dish of oil is not lacking, till the day of Jehovah's giving a shower on the face of the ground.’
15And she goeth, and doth according to the word of Elijah, and she eateth, she and he, and her household — days;
16the pitcher of meal was not consumed, and the dish of oil did not lack, according to the word of Jehovah that He spake by the hand of Elijah.
17And it cometh to pass, after these things, the son of the woman, mistress of the house, hath been sick, and his sickness is very severe till that no breath hath been left in him.
18And she saith unto Elijah, ‘What — to me and to thee, O man of God? thou hast come unto me to cause mine iniquity to be remembered, and to put my son to death!’
19And he saith unto her, ‘Give to me thy son;’ and he taketh him out of her bosom, and taketh him up unto the upper chamber where he is abiding, and layeth him on his own bed,
20and crieth unto Jehovah, and saith, ‘Jehovah my God, also on the widow with whom I am sojourning hast Thou done evil — to put her son to death?’
21And he stretcheth himself out on the lad three times, and calleth unto Jehovah, and saith, ‘O Jehovah my God, let turn back, I pray Thee, the soul of this lad into his midst;’
22and Jehovah hearkeneth to the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the lad turneth back into his midst, and he liveth.
23And Elijah taketh the lad, and bringeth him down from the upper chamber of the house, and giveth him to his mother, and Elijah saith, ‘See, thy son liveth!’
24And the woman saith unto Elijah, ‘Now, this I have known, that a man of God thou [art], and the word of Jehovah in thy mouth [is] truth.’
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