Elijah Proclaims a Drought

17 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the ^(A)inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, ^(B)“As the Lord God of Israel lives, ^(C)before whom I stand, ^(D)there shall not be dew nor rain ^(E)these years, except at my word.”

¹⁷ Elijah was a man ^(A)with a nature like ours, and ^(B)he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.

²⁵ But I tell you truly, ^(A)many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; ²⁶ but to none of them was Elijah sent except to ^[a]Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

^17 (A)He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

¹⁴ And Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, ^(A)whatever the Lord says to me, that I will speak.”