¹⁰ Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram ^[a]went down into Egypt to live temporarily, for the famine in the land was oppressive (intense and grievous).

26 And there was a famine in the land, other than the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines.

21 There was a three-year famine in the days of David, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord. The Lord replied, It is on account of Saul and his bloody house, for he put to death the Gibeonites.

17 Elijah the Tishbite, of the temporary residents of Gilead, said to Ahab, As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before Whom I stand, there shall not be dew or rain these years but according to My word.

² And the word of the Lord came to him, saying,

³ Go from here and turn east and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, east of the Jordan.

⁴ You shall drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.

⁵ So he did according to the word of the Lord; he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, east of the Jordan.

⁶ And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank of the brook.

⁷ After a while the brook dried up because there was no rain in the land.

⁸ And the word of the Lord came to him:

⁹ Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.

¹⁰ So he arose and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her, Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.

¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.

¹² And she said, As the Lord your God lives, I have not a loaf baked but only a handful of meal in the jar and a little oil in the bottle. See, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it—and die.

¹³ Elijah said to her, Fear not; go and do as you have said. But make me a little cake of [it] first and bring it to me, and afterward prepare some for yourself and your son.

¹⁴ For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: The jar of meal shall not waste away or the bottle of oil fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.

¹⁵ She did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days.

¹⁶ The jar of meal was not spent nor did the bottle of oil fail, according to the word which the Lord spoke through Elijah.

¹⁷ After these things, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.

¹⁸ And she said to Elijah, What have you against me, O man of God? Have you come to me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son?

¹⁹ He said to her, Give me your son. And he took him from her bosom and carried him up into the chamber where he stayed and laid him upon his own bed.

²⁰ And Elijah cried to the Lord and said, O Lord my God, have You brought further calamity upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?

²¹ And he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord and said, O Lord my God, I pray You, let this child’s soul come back into him.

²² And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.

²³ And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the [lower part of the] house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, See, your son is alive!

²⁴ And the woman said to Elijah, By this I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.

18 After many days, the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.

²⁵ And a great famine came to Samaria. They besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung [a wild vegetable] for five shekels of silver.

²⁶ As the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, a woman cried to him, Help, my lord, O king!

²⁷ He said, [For] if he does not help you [No, let the Lord help you!], from where can I get you help? Out of the threshing floor, or out of the winepress?

²⁸ And the king said to her, What ails you? She answered, This woman said to me, Give me your son so we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.

²⁹ So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, Give your son so we may eat him, but she had hidden her son.

³⁰ When the king heard the woman’s words, he rent his clothes. As he went on upon the wall, the people looked, and behold, he wore sackcloth inside on his flesh.

³¹ Then he said, May God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day!

³² Now Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him. And the king sent a man from before him [to behead Elisha]. But before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, See how this son of [Jezebel] a murderer is sending to remove my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it fast against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet [just] behind him?

³³ And while Elisha was talking with them, behold, [the messenger] came to him [and then the king came also]. And [the relenting king] said, This evil is from the Lord! Why should I any longer wait [expecting Him to withdraw His punishment? What, Elisha, can be done now]?