Elijah Predicts a Drought

17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, of ^(A)Tishbe^[a] in Gilead, said to Ahab, ^(B)“As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, ^(C)before whom I stand, ^(D)there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”

¹⁷ Elijah was a man ^(A)with a nature like ours, and ^(B)he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for ^(C)three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.

²⁵ But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when ^(A)the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, ²⁶ and Elijah was sent to none of them ^(B)but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

¹⁷ and ^(A)he will go before him ^(B)in the spirit and power of Elijah, ^(C)to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and ^(D)the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, ^(E)to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

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

¹⁴ And Elisha said, ^(A)“As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you.

⁶ They have the power ^(A)to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and ^(B)to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.

^2 (A)God has not rejected his people whom he ^(B)foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?

³⁶ But ^(A)stay awake at all times, ^(B)praying that you may ^(C)have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and ^(D)to stand before the Son of Man.”