< 1 Kings 17 >
1 Elijah the Tishbite, (from Tishbe in Gilead), told Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, the one I serve, in the years to come there will be not be any dew or rain unless I say so!”
And Eliu the prophet, the Thesbite of Thesbae of Galaad, said to Achaab, As the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be these years dew nor rain, except by the word of my mouth.
2 Then the Lord told Elijah,
And the word of the Lord came to Eliu, [saying],
3 “Leave here and go east. Hide in the valley of the Cherith brook where it meets the Jordan.
Depart hence eastward, and hide you by the brook of Chorrath, that is before Jordan.
4 You can drink from the brook, and I have ordered ravens to bring you food you there.”
And it shall be [that] you shall drink water of the brook, and I will charge the ravens to feed you there.
5 So Elijah did what the Lord told him. He went to the valley of the Cherith brook, where it meets the Jordan, and stayed there.
And Eliu did according to the word of the Lord, and he sat by the brook of Chorrath before Jordan.
6 Ravens brought him bread and meat both in the morning and in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
And the ravens brought him loaves in the morning, and flesh in the evening and he drank water of the brook.
7 A while later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
And it came to pass after some time, that the brook was dried up, because there had been no rain upon the earth.
8 Then the Lord told Elijah,
And the word of the Lord came to Eliu, [saying],
9 “Leave here and go to Zarephath near Sidon and stay there. I have given instructions to a widow there to provide you with food.”
Arise, and go to Sarepta of the Sidonian [land]: behold, I have there commanded a widow-woman to maintain you.
10 So he left for Zarephath. When he arrived at the entrance to the town, he saw a woman, a widow, gathering sticks. He called her over and asked her, “Could you bring me a little water in a cup so I can have a drink?”
And he arose and went to Sarepta, and came to the gate of the city: and, behold, a widow-woman was there gathering sticks; and Eliu cried after her, and said to her, Fetch me, I pray you, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
11 As she was going to get it, he called after her and said, “Oh, and please bring me a piece of bread.”
And she went to fetch it; and Eliu cried after her, and said, Bring me, I pray you, a morsel of the bread that is in your hand.
12 She replied, “As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour is left in a jar and a little bit of olive oil in a jug. Right now I am gathering a few of sticks so I can go and cook what's left for myself and my son so we can eat it, and then we'll die.”
And the woman said, [As] the Lord your God lives, I have not a cake, but only a handful of meal in the pitcher, and a little oil in a cruse, and, behold, I am going to gather two sticks, and I shall go in and dress it for myself and my children, and we shall eat it and die.
13 Elijah said to her, “Don't be afraid. 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.
And Eliu said to her, Be of good courage, go in and do according to your word: but make me thereof a little cake, and you shall bring [it] out to me first, and you shall make [some] for yourself and your children last.
14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not become empty and the jug of olive oil will not run out until the day the Lord sends rain to water the ground.”
For thus says the Lord, The pitcher of meal shall not fail, and the cruse of oil shall not diminish, until the day that the Lord gives rain upon the earth.
15 She went and did as Elijah had told her, and Elijah, the widow, and her household were able to eat for many days.
And the woman went and did [so], and did eat, she, and he, and her children.
16 The jar of flour was did not become empty and the jug of olive oil did not run out, just as the Lord had said through Elijah.
And the pitcher of meal failed not, and the cruse of oil was not diminished, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke by the hand of Eliu.
17 Later on the woman's son fell sick. (She was the one who owned the house.) He went from bad to worse, and finally he died.
And it came to pass afterward, that the son of the woman the mistress of the house was sick; and his sickness was very severe, until there was no breath left in him.
18 “What are you doing to me, man of God?” the woman asked Elijah. “Have you come to remind me about my sins and cause my son to die?”
And she said to Eliu, What have I to do with you, O man of God? have you come in to me to bring my sins to remembrance, and to kill my son?
19 “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He picked him up from her arms, carried him upstairs to the room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed.
And Eliu said to the woman, Give me your son. And he took him out of her bosom, and took him up to the chamber in which he himself lodged, and laid him on the bed.
20 Then he cried out to the Lord, saying, “Lord my God, why have you allowed this to happen to this widow who has opened her home to me, this terrible tragedy of causing her son to die?”
And Eliu cried aloud, and said, Alas, O Lord, the witness of the widow with whom I sojourn, you have wrought evil [for her] in slaying her son.
21 He stretched himself out on the boy three times, and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, please let this boy's life return to him!”
And he breathed on the child thrice, and called on the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, let, I pray you, the soul of this child return to him.
22 The Lord responded to Elijah's cry. The boy's life returned to him, and he lived!
And it was so, and the child cried out,
23 Elijah took the boy and brought him down from the room into the house, and gave him to his mother. “See, your son is alive,” Elijah told her.
and he brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; and Eliu said, See, your son lives.
24 “Now I'm convinced that you are a man of God, and that what the Lord speaks through you is the truth,” the woman replied.
And the woman said to Eliu, Behold, I know that you [are] a man of God, and the word of the Lord in your mouth [is] true.