1 Kings 17
Good News Translation
Elijah and the Drought
17 (A)A prophet named Elijah, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to King Ahab, “In the name of the Lord, the living God of Israel, whom I serve, I tell you that there will be no dew or rain for the next two or three years until I say so.”
2 Then the Lord said to Elijah, 3 “Leave this place and go east and hide yourself near Cherith Brook, east of the Jordan. 4 The brook will supply you with water to drink, and I have commanded ravens to bring you food there.”
5 Elijah obeyed the Lord's command, and went and stayed by Cherith Brook. 6 He drank water from the brook, and ravens brought him bread and meat every morning and every evening. 7 After a while the brook dried up because of the lack of rain.
Elijah and the Widow in Zarephath
8 Then the Lord said to Elijah, 9 (B)“Now go to the town of Zarephath, near Sidon, and stay there. I have commanded a widow who lives there to feed you.” 10 So Elijah went to Zarephath, and as he came to the town gate, he saw a widow gathering firewood. “Please bring me a drink of water,” he said to her. 11 And as she was going to get it, he called out, “And please bring me some bread, too.”
12 She answered, “By the living Lord your God I swear that I don't have any bread. All I have is a handful of flour in a bowl and a bit of olive oil in a jar. I came here to gather some firewood to take back home and prepare what little I have for my son and me. That will be our last meal, and then we will starve to death.”
13 “Don't worry,” Elijah said to her. “Go on and prepare your meal. But first make a small loaf from what you have and bring it to me, and then prepare the rest for you and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The bowl will not run out of flour or the jar run out of oil before the day that I, the Lord, send rain.’”
15 The widow went and did as Elijah had told her, and all of them had enough food for many days. 16 As the Lord had promised through Elijah, the bowl did not run out of flour nor did the jar run out of oil.
17 Some time later the widow's son got sick; he got worse and worse, and finally he died. 18 She said to Elijah, “Man of God, why did you do this to me? Did you come here to remind God of my sins and so cause my son's death?”
19 “Give the boy to me,” Elijah said. He took the boy from her arms, carried him upstairs to the room where he was staying, and laid him on the bed. 20 Then he prayed aloud, “O Lord my God, why have you done such a terrible thing to this widow? She has been kind enough to take care of me, and now you kill her son!” 21 (C)Then Elijah stretched himself out on the boy three times and prayed, “O Lord my God, restore this child to life!” 22 The Lord answered Elijah's prayer; the child started breathing again and revived.
23 Elijah took the boy back downstairs to his mother and said to her, “Look, your son is alive!”
24 She answered, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the Lord really speaks through you!”
1 Kings 17
1599 Geneva Bible
17 1 Elijah forewarneth of the famine to come. 4 He is fed of Ravens. 9 He is sent to Zarephath, where he restoreth his hostess’s son to life.
1 And Elijah the Tishbite one of the inhabitants of Gilead said unto Ahab, (A)As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I [a]stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, but [b]according to my word.
2 ¶ And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,
3 Go hence, and turn thee Eastward, and hide thyself in the [c]river Cherith, that is over against Jordan,
4 And thou shalt drink of the river: and I have commanded the [d]ravens to feed thee there.
5 So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: for he went, and remained by the river Cherith that is over against 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 river.
7 And after a while the river dried up, because there fell no rain upon the earth.
8 ¶ And the [e]word of the Lord came unto him, saying,
9 (B)Up, and get thee to Zarephath, which is in Sidon, and remain there: behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain thee.
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath: and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow was there [f]gathering sticks: and he called her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
11 And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.
12 And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but even an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and behold, I am gathering [g]a few sticks for to go in, and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and [h]die.
13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not, come do as thou hast said, but make me thereof a little cake first of all, and bring it unto me, and afterward make for thee and thy son.
14 For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, [i]The meal in the barrel shall not be wasted, neither shall the oil in the cruse be diminished, unto the time that the Lord send rain upon the earth.
15 So she went, and did as Elijah said, and she did eat: so did he and her house [j]for a certain time.
16 The barrel of the meal wasted not, nor the oil was spent out of the cruse, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by the hand of Elijah.
17 ¶ And after these things, the son of the wife of the house fell sick, and his sickness was so sore, [k]that there was no [l]breath left in him.
18 And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?
19 And he said unto her, Give me thy son: and he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a chamber, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.
20 Then he called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, hast thou [m]punished also this widow, with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?
21 And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again.
22 Then 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 house, and delivered him unto his mother, and Elijah said, Behold, thy son liveth.
24 And the woman said unto Elijah, Now [n]I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is true.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 17:1 That is, whom I serve.
- 1 Kings 17:1 But as I shall declare it by God’s revelation.
- 1 Kings 17:3 Or, brook.
- 1 Kings 17:4 To strengthen his faith against persecution, God promiseth to feed him miraculously.
- 1 Kings 17:8 As the troubles of the Saints of God are many, so his mercy is ever at hand to deliver them.
- 1 Kings 17:10 All this was to strengthen the faith of Elijah, to the intent that he should look upon nothing worldly, but only trust on God’s providence.
- 1 Kings 17:12 Hebrew, two.
- 1 Kings 17:12 For there is no hope of any more sustenance.
- 1 Kings 17:14 God receiveth no benefit for the use of his, but he promiseth a most ample recompense for the same.
- 1 Kings 17:15 That is, till he had rain and food on the earth.
- 1 Kings 17:17 Or, that he died.
- 1 Kings 17:17 God would try whether she had learned by his merciful providence to make him her only stay and comfort.
- 1 Kings 17:20 He was afraid lest God’s name should have been blasphemed and his ministers contemned, except he should have continued his mercies as he had begun them, specially while he there remained.
- 1 Kings 17:24 So hard a thing it is to depend on God, except we be confirmed by miracles.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
