¹⁷ Elijah was a human like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.^(A)

Elijah Predicts a Drought

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

²⁵ But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months and there was a severe famine over all the land,^(A)

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

Elijah’s Message to Ahab

18 After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year of the drought,^[a] saying, “Go, present yourself to Ahab; I will send rain on the earth.”^(A)

¹⁵ “People,^[a] why are you doing this? We are mortals just like you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.^(A)

²⁶ But Peter made him get up, saying, “Stand up; I am only a mortal.”^(A)

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