17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of ①the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall certainly be neither dew nor rain during these years, except by my word.”
▷ ①Another reading is Tishbe in Gilead
17:2 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying,
17:3 “Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is ①east of the Jordan.
▷ ①Lit facing
17:4 And it shall be that you will drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide food for you there.”
17:5 So he went and did everything according to the word of the LORD, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is ①east of the Jordan.
▷ ①Lit facing
17:6 And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook.
17:7 But it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
17:8 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying,
17:9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide food for you.”
17:10 So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the entrance of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a ①cup, so that I may drink.”
▷ ①Lit vessel
17:11 As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.”
17:12 But she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I have no food, only a handful of flour in the ①bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering ②a few sticks so that I may go in and prepare it for me and my son, so that we may ③eat it and die.”
▷ ①Lit pitcher ②Lit two ③I.e., have their last meal
17:13 However, Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said. Just make me a little bread loaf from ①it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son.
▷ ①Lit there
17:14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘The ①bowl of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil become empty, until the day that the LORD provides rain on the face of the earth.’ ”
▷ ①Lit pitcher
17:15 So she went and did everything in accordance with the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days.
17:16 The ①bowl of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil become empty, in accordance with the word of the LORD which He spoke through Elijah.
▷ ①Lit pitcher
17:17 Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his ①condition became very grave, until at the end ②he was no longer breathing.
▷ ①Lit illness ②Lit breath was not left in him
17:18 So she said to Elijah, “ ①Why is my business any of yours, you man of God? Yet you have come to me to bring my wrongdoing to remembrance, and to put my son to death!”
▷ ①Lit What to me and to you, an ancient idiom
17:19 But he said to her, “Give me your son.” Then he took him from her ①arms and carried him up to the upstairs room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed.
▷ ①Lit breast
17:20 And he called to the LORD and said, “LORD, my God, have You also brought catastrophe upon the widow with whom I am ①staying, by causing her son to die?”
▷ ①Lit sojourning
17:21 Then he stretched himself out over the boy three times, and called to the LORD and said, “LORD, my God, please, let this boy’s life return ①to him.”
▷ ①Lit upon his inward part
17:22 And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah, and the life of the boy returned ①to him and he revived.
▷ ①Lit upon his inward part
17:23 Elijah then took the boy and brought him down from the upstairs room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.”
17:24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.”