Old Testament · History

1 Kings chapter 17

Now the , one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as , the God of Israel, lives — the God I stand before — there will be in the coming years unless I say so.”Then Elijah:“Leave here, head east, and hide yourself by the , east of the Jordan.”“You’ll drink from the brook, and I’ve commanded the to feed you there.”So he went and did what Yahweh told him. He went and stayed by the Cherith Brook, east of the Jordan.The ravens brought him in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening. And he drank from the brook.But after a while the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.Then Yahweh’s word came to him:“Get up and go to , which belongs to , and stay there. I’ve commanded a there to feed you.”So he got up and went to Zarephath. When he came to the , a widow was there gathering sticks. He called out to her, “Would you bring me a little water in a cup so I can have a drink?”As she was going to get it, he called after her, “And bring me a piece of bread too.”She said, “As surely as lives, I don’t have any bread — just a in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. Right now I’m gathering a couple of sticks so I can go home and make something for my son and me. We’ll eat it, and then we’ll die.”Elijah said to her, “. 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.”“Because this is what Yahweh, , says: ‘The jar of flour will not run out and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day Yahweh sends rain on the land.’”She went and did what Elijah told her. And there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her household.The jar of flour did not run out and the jug of oil did not run dry, just as Yahweh had said through Elijah.Some time later, the son of the woman who owned the house got sick. His illness got worse and worse until he finally .She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, ? Did you come here to remind God of my and kill my son?”He said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him from her arms, carried him up to the where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed.Then he to Yahweh, “Yahweh my God, have you really brought tragedy on this widow I’m staying with by letting her son die?”Then he over the boy and cried out to Yahweh, “Yahweh my God, please let this boy’s return to him.”Yahweh Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived.Elijah picked up the boy, carried him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. “Look,” Elijah said, “your son is alive.”Then the woman said to Elijah, “ that you are a man of God, and that Yahweh’s word in your mouth is the .”