1 Kings 17
1 Elijah 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 be not be any dew or rain unless I say so!”
And Elijah the Tishbite, from the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord lives, the God of Israel, in whose sight I stand, there shall not be dew or rain during these years, except by the words of my mouth.”
2 Then the Lord told Elijah,
And the word of the Lord came to him, saying:
3 “Leave here and go east. Hide in the valley of the Cherith brook where it meets the Jordan.
“Withdraw from here, and go toward the east, and hide at the torrent Cherith, which is opposite the Jordan.
4 You can drink from the brook, and I have ordered ravens to bring you food you there.”
And there you shall drink from the torrent. And I have instructed the ravens to feed you there.”
5 So Elijah did what the Lord told him. He went to the valley of the Cherith brook, where it meets the Jordan, and stayed there.
Therefore, he went and acted in accord with the word of the Lord. And going away, he settled by the torrent Cherith, which is opposite the Jordan.
6 Ravens brought him bread and meat both in the morning and in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
And the ravens carried bread and flesh to him in the morning, and likewise bread and flesh in the evening. And he drank from the torrent.
7 A while later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
But after some days, the torrent dried up. For it had not rained upon the earth.
8 Then the Lord told Elijah,
Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying:
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.”
“Rise up, and go to Zarephath of the Sidonians, and dwell there. For I have instructed a widowed woman there to feed you.”
10 So 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?”
He rose up and went away to Zarephath. And when he had arrived at the gate of the city, he saw the widowed woman collecting wood, and he called to her. And he said to her, “Give me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.”
11 As she was going to get it, he called after her and said, “Oh, and please bring me a piece of bread.”
And as she was going to bring it, he called out after her, saying, “Bring me also, I beg you, a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12 She 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 of 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.”
And she responded: “As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, except a handful of flour in a jar, and a little oil in a bottle. See, I am collecting a couple of sticks, so that I may go in and make it for myself and my son, so that we may eat it and die.”
13 Elijah 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.
And Elijah said to her: “Do not be afraid. But go and do as you have said. Yet truly, first make for me, from the same flour, a little bread baked under ashes, and bring it to me. Then afterward, make some for yourself and for your son.
14 For 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.”
For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘The jar of flour will not fail, nor the bottle of oil be diminished, until the day when the Lord will grant rain upon the face of the earth.’”
15 She went and did as Elijah had told her, and Elijah, the widow, and her household were able to eat for many days.
She went and acted in accord with the word of Elijah. And he ate, and she and her household ate. And from that day,
16 The jar of flour was did not become empty and the jug of olive oil did not run out, just as the Lord had said through Elijah.
the jar of flour did not fail, and the bottle of oil was not diminished, in accord with the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by the hand of Elijah.
17 Later 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.
Now it happened that, after these things, the son of the woman who was the mother of the family became ill. And the sickness was very powerful, so that no breath remained in him.
18 “What are you doing to me, man of God?” the woman asked Elijah. “Have you come to remind me about my sins and cause my son to die?”
Therefore, she said to Elijah: “What is there between you and me, O man of God? Have you entered to me, so that my iniquities would be remembered, and so that you would put to death my son?”
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.
And Elijah said to her, “Give your son to me.” And he took him from her bosom, and he carried him to an upper room, where he himself was staying. And he placed him on his own bed.
20 Then 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?”
And he cried out to the Lord, and he said, “O Lord, my God, have you even afflicted the widow by whom I am, in a sense, sustained, so that you would put to death her son?”
21 He 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!”
And he stretched himself out beside the boy three times. And he cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord, my God, let the soul of this boy, I beg you, return to his body.”
22 The Lord responded to Elijah's cry. The boy's life returned to him, and he lived!
And the Lord heeded the voice of Elijah. And the soul of the boy returned to him, and he revived.
23 Elijah 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.
And Elijah took the boy, and he brought him down from the upper room to the lower part of the house. And he gave him to his mother. And he said to her, “See, your son lives.”
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.
And the woman said to Elijah: “By this, I now realize that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is true.”
