< 1 Kings 17 >

1 And Elias the Thesbite of the inhabitants of Galaad said to Achab: As the Lord liveth the God of Israel, in whose sight I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to the words of my mouth.
Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD lives—the God of Israel before whom I stand—there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”
2 And the word of the Lord came to him, saying:
Then a revelation from the LORD came to Elijah:
3 Get thee hence, and go towards the east and hide thyself by the torrent of Carith, which is over against the Jordan,
“Leave here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan.
4 And there thou shalt drink of the torrent: and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
And you are to 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: and going, he dwelt by the torrent Carith, which is over against the Jordan.
So Elijah did what the LORD had told him, and he went and lived by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan.
6 And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank of tile torrent.
The ravens would bring him bread and meat in the morning and evening, and he would drink from the brook.
7 But after some time the torrent was dried up, for it had not rained upon the earth.
Some time later, however, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying:
Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah:
9 Arise, and go to Sarephta of the Sidonians, and dwell there: for I have commanded a widow woman there to feed thee.
“Get up and go to Zarephath of Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
10 He arose, and went to Sarephta. And when he was come to the gate of the city, he saw the widow woman gathering sticks, and he called her, and said to her: Give me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the city gate, there was a widow gathering sticks. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, so that I may drink.”
11 And when she was going to fetch it he called after her, saying: Bring me also, I beseech thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand.
And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread.”
12 And she answered: As the Lord thy God liveth, I have no bread, but only a handful of meal in a pot, and a little oil in a cruse: behold I am gathering two sticks that I may go in and dress it, for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
But she replied, “As surely as the LORD your God lives, I have no bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. Look, I am gathering a couple of sticks to take home and prepare a meal for myself and my son, so that we may eat it and die.”
13 And Elias said to her: Fear not, but go, and do as thou hast said: but first make for me of the same meal a little hearth cake, and bring it to me: and after make for thyself and thy son.
“Do not be afraid,” Elijah said to her. “Go and do as you have said. But first make me a small cake of bread from what you have, and bring it out to me. Afterward, make some for yourself and your son,
14 For thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: The pot of meal shall not waste, nor the cruse of oil be diminished, until the day wherein the Lord will give rain upon the face of the earth.
for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be exhausted and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain upon the face of the earth.’”
15 She went and did according to the word of Elias: and he ate, and she, and her house: and from that day
So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and there was food every day for Elijah and the woman and her household.
16 The pot of meal wasted not, and the cruse of oil was not diminished, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke in the hand of Elias.
The jar of flour was not exhausted and the jug of oil did not run dry, according to the word that the LORD had spoken through Elijah.
17 And it came to pass after this that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick, and the sickness was very grievous, so that there was no breath left in him.
Later, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill, and his sickness grew worse and worse, until no breath remained in him.
18 And she said to Elias: What have I to do with thee, thou man of God? art thou come to me that my iniquities should be remembered, and that thou shouldst kill my son?
“O man of God,” said the woman to Elijah, “what have you done to me? Have you come to remind me of my iniquity and cause the death of my son?”
19 And Elias said to her: Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him into the upper chamber where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.
But Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed.
20 And he cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord my God, hast thou afflicted also the widow, with whom I am after a so maintained, so as to kill her son?
Then he cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have You also brought tragedy on this widow who has opened her home to me, by causing her son to die?”
21 And he stretched, and measured himself upon the child three times, and cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord my God, let the soul of this child, I beseech thee, return into his body.
Then he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, please let this boy’s life return to him!”
22 And the Lord heard the voice of Elias: and the soul of the child returned into him, and he revived.
And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah, and the child’s life returned to him, and he lived.
23 And Elias took the child, and brought him down from the upper chamber to the house below, and delivered him to his mother, and said to her: Behold thy son liveth.
Then Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. “Look, your son is alive,” Elijah declared.
24 And the woman said to Elias: Now, by this I know that thou art a man of God, and the word of the Lord in thy mouth is true.
Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is truth.”

< 1 Kings 17 >