Elijah Warns of Drought
3 Kingdoms 17, verse 1. Now Elijah the Tishbite from Tishbe in Gilead said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Hosts lives, the God of all Israel before whom I stand, there shall not be any dew nor rain during these years except at my word.” 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 2. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying, 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 3. “Depart and go eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 4. You shall drink water from the brook, and I shall command the ravens to feed you there.” 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 5. So Elijah went and obeyed the word of the Lord, and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 6. The ravens brought him bread in the morning and meat in the evening, and he drank water from the brook. 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 7. But after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
Elijah Helps a Widow
3 Kingdoms 17, verse 8. Again the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying, 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 9. “Arise, go to Zarephath of Sidon and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 10. So he arose and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the city, there was a widow gathering firewood. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup so I can drink.” 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 11. She went to get it, and Elijah called after her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 12. But the woman said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have any bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar. You see I am gathering a couple of sticks, so I can go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 13. But Elijah said to her, “Take courage, and do as you say, but make me a small cake from it first and bring it to me. Afterward make some for yourself and your son. 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 14. For thus says the Lord, ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, and the jar of oil shall not run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’” 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 15. So the woman went and did it. Thus she and he and her children ate for many days. 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 16. The bin of flour was not used up, and the jar of oil did not run dry, according to the word the Lord spoke by Elijah. 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 17. Now after this, the son of the woman who owned the house became sick. His sickness was so serious there was no breath left in him. 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 18. So she said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, O man of God? You came to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to kill my son.” 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 19. But Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 20. Then Elijah cried out to the Lord and said, “Woe is me, O Lord! The witness of the widow with whom I lodge, you have embittered her by killing her son.” 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 21. Then he stretched himself out on the child three times, and called on the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, let the soul of this child come back to him.” 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 22. So it happened, and the child cried out. 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 23. He took the child and brought him down from the upper room of the house, and gave him to his mother. Elijah said, “Behold, your son lives.” 3 Kingdoms 17, verse 24. Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth.”