1 Kings 17:17-24
New English Translation
17 After this[a] the son of the woman who owned the house got sick. His illness was so severe he could no longer breathe. 18 She asked Elijah, “Why, prophet, have you come[b] to me to confront me with[c] my sin and kill my son?” 19 He said to her, “Hand me your son.” He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him down on his bed. 20 Then he called out to the Lord, “O Lord, my God, are you also bringing disaster on this widow I am staying with by killing her son?” 21 He stretched out over the boy three times and called out to the Lord, “O Lord, my God, please let this boy’s breath return to him.” 22 The Lord answered Elijah’s prayer; the boy’s breath returned to him and he lived. 23 Elijah took the boy, brought him down from the upper room to the house, and handed him to his mother. Elijah then said, “See, your son is alive!” 24 The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a prophet[d] and that the Lord’s message really does come through you.”[e]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Kings 17:17 tn Heb “after these things.”
- 1 Kings 17:18 tn Heb “What to me and to you, man of God, that you have come.”
- 1 Kings 17:18 tn Heb “to make me remember.”
- 1 Kings 17:24 tn Heb “man of God.”
- 1 Kings 17:24 tn Heb “is truly in your mouth.”sn This episode is especially significant in light of Ahab’s decision to promote Baal worship in Israel. In Canaanite mythology the drought that swept over the region (v. 1) would signal that Baal, a fertility god responsible for providing food for his subjects, had been defeated by the god of death and was imprisoned in the underworld. While Baal was overcome by death and unable to function like a king, Israel’s God demonstrated his sovereignty and superiority to death by providing food for a widow and restoring life to her son. And he did it all in Sidonian territory, Baal’s back yard, as it were. The episode demonstrates that Israel’s God, not Baal, is the true king who provides food and controls life and death. This polemic against Baalism reaches its climax in the next chapter, when the Lord proves that he, not Baal, controls the elements of the storm and determines when the rains will fall.
1 Kings 17:17-24
International Standard Version
Elijah Restores the Widow’s Son
17 Sometime later, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. In fact, his illness became so severe that he died.[a] 18 “What do we have in common, you man of God?” she accused Elijah. “You came to me so you could uncover my guilt! And you’re responsible for the death of my son!”
19 “Give me your son,” he replied. Then he took him from her lap, carried him upstairs to the room where he lived, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he called out to the Lord and asked him, “Lord my God, have you also brought evil to this dear widow with whom I am living as her guest? Have you caused the death of her son?” 21 Then he stretched himself three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, please cause the soul of this little boy to return to him.”
22 The Lord listened to Elijah, and the soul of the little boy returned to him, and he revived. 23 Then Elijah took the little boy downstairs from the upper chamber back into the main house and delivered him to his mother. “Look,” Elijah told her, “your son is alive.”
24 The woman responded to Elijah, “Now at last I’ve really learned that you are a man of God and that what you have to say about the Lord[b] is the truth.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Kings 17:17 Lit. that no breath remained in him
- 1 Kings 17:24 Lit. that the word of the Lord in your mouth
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