1 Kings 17

1Elijah the Tishbite, from the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand: there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except by my word.”

2Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 3“Go from here and turn eastward. Hide yourself by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 4You will drink from the wadi, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.”

5So he went and did according to the word of the LORD. He went and lived by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 6The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the wadi. 7After some time, the wadi dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

8Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 9“Get up; go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there. Look, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”

10So he got up and went to Zarephath. When he came to the entrance of the city, there was a widow gathering sticks there. He called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” 11As she went to get it, he called after her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” 12But she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I have no cake—only a handful of flour in the jar and a little oil in the jug. Look, I am gathering two sticks, so that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son. We will eat it, and die.”

13Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid. Go and do as you have said. But first make me a small cake from it and bring it out to me; afterward make something for yourself and your son. 14For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: The jar of flour will not be used up, and the jug of oil will not fail, until the day the LORD gives rain upon the face of the ground.”

15So she went and did according to the word of Elijah. She ate—she and he and her household—for days. 16The jar of flour was not used up, and the jug of oil did not fail, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke through Elijah.

17After these things, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. His illness became very severe, until no breath remained in him. 18She said to Elijah, “What is there between me and you, man of God? Have you come to me to bring my guilt to remembrance and to put my son to death?”

19He said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him from her arms, carried him up to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed.

20Then he cried out to the LORD and said, “LORD, my God, have you also brought harm upon the widow with whom I am staying, by putting her son to death?” 21He stretched himself over the child three times, and cried out to the LORD, saying, “LORD, my God, please let the life of this child return within him.” 22The LORD listened to Elijah’s voice, and the life of the child returned within him, and he lived.

23Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. Elijah said, “See—your son lives.” 24Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.”