1 Kings 17

There was a man whose name was Elijah. He came from the city of Tishbe. He was one of the Tishbites who lived in the region of Gilead. One day he went {to Samaria} to speak with King Ahab. He told him, “God is the God whom we Israelites should worship, and he is the God whom I obey. I swear by God there will be no dew or rain for the next several years unless I say so.” \*

Then God told Elijah,

“{The king is angry with you, so} leave this city of Samaria. Travel east and hide at the Cherith Brook, near the Jordan River.

When you get there, you can drink water from the brook. And I will have ravens bring food to you there.” \*

So Elijah did what God commanded him to do. He went and stayed next to the Cherith Brook, near the Jordan River.

Every morning and every evening, the ravens brought Elijah bread and meat to eat. He drank water from the brook.

But after a while, because it had stopped raining anywhere in Israel, the brook dried up. \*

Then God told Elijah,

“Go and live in the town of Zarephath, which is near the city of Sidon. I have arranged for a widow there to give you food to eat.”

So Elijah did what God had told him to do. He went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the town, he saw a widow there who was gathering sticks. He said to her, “Would you please bring me a cup of water to drink?” \*

As she was going to get it, he called out to her, “Would you please also bring me something to eat?”

But she replied, “I swear by God your God that I do not have even a single loaf 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 going to gather a few sticks and then go home and make a fire so that I could cook a meal with them. My son and I would eat that meal, and after that, we would die {from hunger}.”

But Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid {that you will die}. Go home and do what you said you were going to do. But first, bake me a little loaf of bread from your flour and oil and bring it to me. After that, use what is left to prepare some food for yourself and for your son. \*

You will be able to do that because God, the God whom we Israelites worship, has told me, ‘There will be flour in that jar and olive oil in that jug right up to the time when I make it rain on the earth {and crops grow again}!’”

So the woman did exactly what Elijah told her to do. And she and her son and Elijah had enough food every day from then on,

because there was always flour in that jar and olive oil in that jug. That was what God had told Elijah would happen, and that is exactly what happened. \*

Some time later, the son of the woman in whose home Elijah was staying became sick. He kept getting sicker, and finally he died.

So the woman went to Elijah and said to him, “I have treated you kindly as a prophet, so you had no reason to let this happen to me. It seems that you came here to make God more aware of my sins and that he has punished me by causing my son to die!” \*

But Elijah replied, “Give your son to me.” She was holding the boy’s body, but he took his body from her and carried it up to the room where he was staying. He laid the boy’s body on his bed.

Then Elijah cried out to God, “God my God, this widow has kindly allowed me to stay in her home. It does not seem right that you have caused her this tragedy and allowed her son to die!”

Then Elijah stretched himself on top of the boy’s body three times. He cried out to God, “God my God, please cause this boy to become alive again!” \*

God did what Elijah asked him to do. He caused the boy to become alive again.

Then Elijah carried the boy down from his room back into the house. He handed him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!”

The woman told Elijah, “Now I know for certain that you are a prophet and that when you say a message is from God, it truly is!” \*