1 Kings 17
17
Elijah the prophet
Elijah stops the rain
1Elijah was a prophet from Tishbe in Gilead.#17.1 from Tishbe in Gilead: Or “from the settlers in Gilead”. One day he went to King Ahab and said, “I'm a servant of the living LORD, the God of Israel. And I swear in his name that it won't rain until I say so. There won't even be any dew on the ground.”#Jas 5.17.
2Later, the LORD said to Elijah, 3“Leave and go across the River Jordan so you can hide near Cherith Brook. 4You can drink water from the brook, and eat the food I've told the ravens to bring you.”
5Elijah obeyed the LORD and went to live near Cherith Brook. 6Ravens brought him bread and meat twice a day, and he drank water from the brook. 7But after a while, it dried up because there was no rain.
Elijah helps a widow in Zarephath
8The LORD told Elijah, 9“Go to the town of Zarephath in Sidon and live there. I've told a widow in that town to give you food.”#Lk 4.25,26.
10When Elijah came near the town gate of Zarephath, he saw a widow gathering sticks for a fire. “Would you please bring me a cup of water?” he asked. 11As she left to get it, he asked, “Would you also please bring me a piece of bread?”
12The widow answered, “In the name of the living LORD your God, I swear that I don't have any bread. All I have is a handful of flour and a little olive oil. I'm on my way home now with these few sticks to cook what I have for my son and me. After that, we will starve to death.”
13Elijah said, “Everything will be fine. Do what you said. Go home and prepare something for yourself and your son. But first, please make a small piece of bread and bring it to me. 14The LORD God of Israel has promised that your jar of flour won't run out and your bottle of oil won't dry up before he sends rain for the crops.”
15The widow went home and did exactly what Elijah had told her. She and Elijah and her family had enough food for a long time. 16The LORD kept the promise that his prophet Elijah had made, and she did not run out of flour or oil.
Elijah brings a boy back to life
17Several days later, the son of the woman who owned the house#17.17 the woman who owned the house: This may or may not be the same woman as the widow in verses 8-16. got sick, and he kept getting worse, until finally he died.
18The woman shouted at Elijah, “What have I done to you? I thought you were God's prophet. Did you come here to cause the death of my son as a reminder that I've sinned against God?”#17.18 Did you…God: In ancient times people sometimes thought that if they sinned, something terrible would happen to them.
19“Bring me your son,” Elijah said. Then he took the boy from her arms and carried him upstairs to the room where he was staying. Elijah laid the boy on his bed 20and prayed, “LORD God, why did you do such a terrible thing to this woman? She's letting me stay here, and now you've let her son die.” 21Elijah stretched himself out over the boy three times, while praying, “LORD God, bring this boy back to life!”#2 K 4.34,35.
22The LORD answered Elijah's prayer, and the boy started breathing again. 23Elijah picked him up and carried him downstairs. He gave the boy to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive.”
24“You are God's prophet!” the woman replied. “Now I know that you really do speak for the LORD.”
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
1 Kings 17
17
1Elijah the Tishbite (from Tishbe in Gilead), told Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, the one I serve, in the years to come there will not be any dew or rain unless I say so!”
2Then the Lord told Elijah, 3“Leave here and go east. Hide in the valley of the Cherith brook where it meets the Jordan. 4You can drink from the brook, and I have ordered ravens to bring you food you there.”
5So Elijah did what the Lord told him. He went to the valley of the Cherith brook, where it meets the Jordan, and stayed there. 6Ravens brought him bread and meat both in the morning and in the evening, and he drank from the brook. 7A while later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
8Then the Lord told Elijah, 9“Leave here and go to Zarephath near Sidon and stay there. I have given instructions to a widow there to provide you with food.”
10So he left for Zarephath. When he arrived at the entrance to the town, he saw a woman, a widow, gathering sticks. He called her over and asked her, “Could you bring me a little water in a cup so I can have a drink?” 11As she was going to get it, he called after her and said, “Oh, and please bring me a piece of bread.”
12She replied, “As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour is left in a jar and a little bit of olive oil in a jug. Right now I am gathering a few sticks so I can go and cook what's left for myself and my son so we can eat it, and then we'll die.”
13Elijah said to her, “Don't be afraid. Go home and do what you said. But first make me a small loaf of bread from what you have and bring it to me. Then make something for yourself and your son. 14For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not become empty and the jug of olive oil will not run out until the day the Lord sends rain to water the ground.’”
15She went and did as Elijah had told her, and Elijah, the widow, and her household were able to eat for many days. 16The jar of flour did not become empty and the jug of olive oil did not run out, just as the Lord had said through Elijah.
17Later on the woman's son fell sick. (She was the one who owned the house.) He went from bad to worse, and finally he died.
18“What are you doing to me,#17:18. The literal phrase in the Hebrew is “What for me and for you?” It is sometimes translated “What do I have to do you with you?” but here it is clearly being used as a question regarding the death of the widow's son. man of God?” the woman asked Elijah. “Have you come to remind me about my sins and cause my son to die?”
19“Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He picked him up from her arms, carried him upstairs to the room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20Then he cried out to the Lord, saying, “Lord my God, why have you allowed this to happen to this widow who has opened her home to me, this terrible tragedy of causing her son to die?”
21He stretched himself out on the boy three times, and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, please let this boy's life return to him!” 22The Lord responded to Elijah's cry. The boy's life returned to him, and he lived!
23Elijah took the boy and brought him down from the room into the house, and gave him to his mother. “See, your son is alive,” Elijah told her.
24“Now I'm convinced that you are a man of God, and that what the Lord speaks through you is the truth,” the woman replied.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com