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.

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.”

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,

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.

Elijah Confronts Ahab

18 ^(A)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.”

¹⁵ “Men, ^(A)why are you doing these things? We also are men, ^(B)of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that ^(C)you should turn from these ^(D)vain things to ^(E)a living God, ^(F)who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

²⁶ But Peter lifted him up, saying, ^(A)“Stand up; I too am a man.”

^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?