Elijah Announces a Great Drought

17 Now Elijah^(A) the Tishbite, from Tishbe^[a] in Gilead,^(B) said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain^(C) in the next few years except at my word.”

¹⁷ Elijah was a human being, even as we are.^(A) He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.^(B)

²⁵ I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.^{(A) 26} Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.^(B)

¹⁷ And he will go on before the Lord,^(A) in the spirit and power of Elijah,^(B) to turn the hearts of the parents to their children^(C) and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”^(D)

¹⁴ But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what the Lord tells me.”^(A)

¹⁴ Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not pay any attention to you.

⁶ They have power to shut up the heavens^(A) so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying;^(B) and they have power to turn the waters into blood^(C) and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.

² God did not reject his people,^(A) whom he foreknew.^(B) Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel:

³⁶ Be always on the watch, and pray^(A) that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

³⁰ Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus.