1 Kings 17
1 Elijah was [a prophet] who lived in Tishbe [town] in [the] Gilead [region]. One day he [went to] King Ahab and said to him, “Yahweh is the God whom we Israelis [worship] and the God whom I worship and serve. Just as certainly as Yahweh lives, there will be no dew or rain for the next few years, if I do not command rain to fall!”
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 Then Yahweh said to Elijah,
Then the Lord told Elijah,
3 “[Because you have made the king angry with you, escape from the king and, ] go to the east, to the Kerith Brook, east of where it flows into the Jordan [River].
“Leave here and go east. Hide in the valley of the Cherith brook where it meets the Jordan.
4 You will be able to drink water from the brook, and [you will be able to eat what] the crows [bring to you, because] I have commanded them to bring food to you.”
You can drink from the brook, and I have ordered ravens to bring you food you there.”
5 So Elijah did what Yahweh commanded him to do. He went and camped alongside Kerith Brook.
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 Crows bought bread and meat to him every morning and every evening, and he drank [water] from the brook.
Ravens brought him bread and meat both in the morning and in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
7 But after a while, the water in the brook dried up, because rain did not fall anywhere in the land.
A while later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
8 Then Yahweh said to Elijah,
Then the Lord told Elijah,
9 “Go and live in Zarephath [village], near Sidon [city]. There is a widow there who will give you food to eat. I have [already] told her what to do about that.”
“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 [Elijah did what God said]. He went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow who was gathering sticks. He said to her, “Would you please bring me a cup of water?”
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 While she was going to get it, he called out to her, “Bring me a piece of bread, too!”
As she was going to get it, he called after her and said, “Oh, and please bring me a piece of bread.”
12 But she replied, “Your God knows that what I am telling you is true: I do not have even one piece of bread in my house. I have only a handful of flour in a jar, and a little [olive] oil in a jug. I was gathering a few sticks to use these to [make a fire and] cook one more meal, and then after my son and I eat that, we will die [from hunger].”
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 But Elijah said to her, “Do not be worried! Go home and do what you said that you were going to do. But first, bake me a little loaf of bread and bring it to me. After you do that, take what is left and prepare some food for you and 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 [I know that you will be able to do that, ] because Yahweh, the God whom we Israelis [worship], says this: ‘There will always be plenty of flour and [olive] oil left in your containers, until the time when I send rain again [and the crops grow again]!’”
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 So the woman did exactly what Elijah told her to do. And she and her son and Elijah had enough food every day,
She went and did as Elijah had told her, and Elijah, the widow, and her household were able to eat for many days.
16 because the flour in the jar was never finished, and the jug of oil was never empty. That happened just like Yahweh had told Elijah that it would happen.
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 Some time later, the woman’s son became sick. He continued to get worse, and finally he died.
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 So the woman went to Elijah and said to him, “You are a prophet; so why have you done this to me? Have you come here to punish me for my sins by causing my son to die?”
“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 But Elijah replied, “Give your son to me.” So she gave her son to him, and he took the boy’s [body] from her and carried it up [the steps] to the room where he stayed. He laid the boy’s [body] on his 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 Then Elijah cried out to Yahweh, “O Yahweh my God, this widow [has kindly allowed] me to stay in her home. So why have you brought this tragedy to her and caused her son to die?” [RHQ]
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 Then Elijah stretched himself on top of the boy’s [body] and called out to Yahweh saying, “Yahweh my God, please allow this boy to become alive again!” He did this three times.
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 Yahweh heard what Elijah prayed, and [he caused] the boy [to] become alive again [DOU].
The Lord responded to Elijah's cry. The boy's life returned to him, and he lived!
23 Elijah carried the boy down [the steps] and gave him to his mother. He said, “Look, your son is alive!”
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 The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know [for certain] that you are a prophet and that the words that you speak are truly from Yahweh!”
“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.
