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!”
And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, says to Ahab, “YHWH, God of Israel, lives, before whom I have stood, there is not dew and rain these years, except according to my word.”
2 Then Yahweh said to Elijah,
And the word of YHWH is to him, saying,
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].
“Go from this [place]; and you have turned for yourself eastward, and been hidden by the Brook of Cherith that [is] on the front of 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.”
and it has been [that] you drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to sustain you there.”
5 So Elijah did what Yahweh commanded him to do. He went and camped alongside Kerith Brook.
And he goes and does according to the word of YHWH, indeed, he goes and dwells by the Brook of Cherith, that [is] on the front of the Jordan,
6 Crows bought bread and meat to him every morning and every evening, and he drank [water] from the brook.
and the ravens are bringing bread and flesh to him in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening, and he drinks from the brook.
7 But after a while, the water in the brook dried up, because rain did not fall anywhere in the land.
And it comes to pass, at the end of [the] days, that the brook dries up, for there has been no rain in the land,
8 Then Yahweh said to Elijah,
and the word of YHWH is to him, saying,
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.”
“Rise, go to Zarephath, that [belongs] to Sidon, and you have dwelt there; behold, I have commanded a widow woman to sustain you there.”
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?”
And he rises, and goes to Zarephath, and comes to the opening of the city, and behold, there [is] a widow woman gathering sticks, and he calls to her and says, “Please bring a little water to me in a vessel, and I drink.”
11 While she was going to get it, he called out to her, “Bring me a piece of bread, too!”
And she goes to bring [it], and he calls to her and says, “Please bring a morsel of bread to me in your hand.”
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].”
And she says, “Your God YHWH lives, I do not have a cake, but the fullness of the hand of meal in a pitcher, and a little oil in a dish; and behold, I am gathering two sticks, and have gone in and prepared it for myself, and for my son, and we have eaten it—and died.”
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.
And Elijah says to her, “Do not fear, go, do according to your word, only make a little cake for me there, in the first place, and you have brought [it] out to me; and for you and for your son make [it] last;
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 thus said YHWH, God of Israel: The pitcher of meal is not consumed, and the dish of oil is not lacking, until the day of YHWH’s giving a shower on the face of 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,
And she goes, and does according to the word of Elijah, and she eats, she and he and her household [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 pitcher of meal was not consumed, and the dish of oil did not lack, according to the word of YHWH that He spoke by the hand of Elijah.
17 Some time later, the woman’s son became sick. He continued to get worse, and finally he died.
And it comes to pass, after these things, the son of the woman, mistress of the house, has been sick, and his sickness is very severe until no breath has been left in him.
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?”
And she says to Elijah, “What [is this] to me and to you, O man of God? You have come to me to cause my iniquity to be remembered, and to put my son to death!”
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.
And he says to her, “Give your son to me”; and he takes him out of her bosom, and takes him up to the upper chamber where he is abiding, and lays him on his own 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]
and cries to YHWH and says, “My God YHWH, have You also brought calamity on the widow with whom I am sojourning, to put her son to death?”
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.
And he stretches himself out on the boy three times, and calls to YHWH and says, “O YHWH my God, please let the soul of this boy return into his midst”;
22 Yahweh heard what Elijah prayed, and [he caused] the boy [to] become alive again [DOU].
and YHWH listens to the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the boy turns back into his midst, and he lives.
23 Elijah carried the boy down [the steps] and gave him to his mother. He said, “Look, your son is alive!”
And Elijah takes the boy, and brings him down from the upper chamber of the house, and gives him to his mother, and Elijah says, “See, your son lives!”
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!”
And the woman says to Elijah, “Now [by] this I have known that you [are] a man of God, and the word of YHWH in your mouth [is] truth.”
