< 1 Kings 17 >
1 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, "As YHWH, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except by my word."
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!”
2 And the word of YHWH came to him, saying,
Then the Lord told Elijah,
3 "Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Wadi Cherith, that is near the Jordan.
“Leave here and go east. Hide in the valley of the Cherith brook where it meets the Jordan.
4 And it shall be that you will drink from the wadi. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there."
You can drink from the brook, and I have ordered ravens to bring you food you there.”
5 So he went and did according to the word of YHWH; for he went and lived by the Wadi Cherith, that is near the Jordan.
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.
6 And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening. And he drank from the wadi.
Ravens brought him bread and meat both in the morning and in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
7 And it happened after a while that the wadi dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
A while later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
8 The word of YHWH came to him, saying,
Then the Lord told Elijah,
9 "Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Look, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you."
“Leave here and go to Zarephath near Sidon and stay there. I have given instructions to a widow there to provide you with food.”
10 So he got up and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, look, a widow was there gathering wood. And he called to her, and said, "Please bring me a little water in a pitcher, that I may drink."
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?”
11 And as she was going to get it, he called to her, and said, "Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand."
As she was going to get it, he called after her and said, “Oh, and please bring me a piece of bread.”
12 She said, "As YHWH your God lives, I do not have anything baked, except a handful of flour in a jar, and a little oil in a jug. Look, I am gathering a couple of sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die."
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.”
13 And Elijah said to her, "Do not be afraid. Go and do as you have said. But make me of it a little cake first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for yourself and for your son.
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.
14 For thus says YHWH, the God of Israel, 'The jar of flour shall not empty, neither shall the jug of oil be empty, until the day that YHWH sends rain on the surface of the land.'"
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.”
15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah. And she, and he, and her household, ate for a long time.
She went and did as Elijah had told her, and Elijah, the widow, and her household were able to eat for many days.
16 The jar of flour did not empty, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of YHWH, which he spoke by Elijah.
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.
17 It happened after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.
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.
18 And she said to Elijah, "What do we have in common, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son."
“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?”
19 And he said to her, "Give me your son." And he took him out of her lap and carried him up into the room where he stayed, and laid him on his own bed.
“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.
20 He cried to YHWH, and said, "YHWH my God, have you also brought disaster on the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?"
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?”
21 And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called out to YHWH, and said, "YHWH my God, please let this child's soul come into him again."
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!”
22 YHWH listened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
The Lord responded to Elijah's cry. The boy's life returned to him, and he lived!
23 And Elijah took the child and brought him down out of the room into the house and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, "See, your son lives."
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.
24 And the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of YHWH in your mouth is the truth."
“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.