Elijah’s Prediction of Drought
17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand, there will not be dew or rain these years except by my word.”
2 The word of the Lord came to him, saying, 3 “Go from here and turn eastward and hide by the Kerith brook, which is east of the Jordan. 4 You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and lived by the Kerith brook, which is east of the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
The Widow of Zarephath
7 After some time, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 The word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there. I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10 So he got up and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and said, “Please get a small cup of water for me to drink.” 11 As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12 She said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, but only a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a jar. I am gathering two sticks, that I can go in and make it for me and my son, so we may eat it and die.”
13 Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make a little cake for me first, and bring it to me, and afterward, make some for your son and you, 14 for thus says the Lord God of Israel: The barrel of meal will not run out, nor will the jar of oil empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.”
15 She went and did what Elijah told her to do, and she, he, and her household ate many days. 16 The barrel of meal did not run out, nor did the jar of oil empty, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by Elijah.
17 Later on, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became terribly sick, so much so that he had no breath left in him. 18 She said to Elijah, “What do I have to do with you, O you man of God? Have you come to remind me of my sin and to kill my son?”
19 And he said to her, “Give me your son,” and he took him out of her arms and carried him up to a loft where he slept and laid him on his own bed. 20 He cried to the Lord and said, “O Lord, my God, have You brought tragedy upon the widow with whom I live by killing her son?” 21 And he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord and said, “O Lord, my God, I pray that You let this child’s soul come into him again.”
22 The Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again, and he was revived. 23 Elijah took the child and brought him down out of the chamber into the house and returned him to his mother, and Elijah said, “See, your son lives!”
24 The woman said to Elijah, “Now, because of this, I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth!”
