1 Kings 17

Elijah Shows Up, the Drought, and God’s Provision

1 Now, Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, told Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, the One I serve, there is not going to be any dew or rain in these years, except by my word!”

2 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying,

3 “Bounce from here. Head east and chill out by the Kerith Ravine, that is east of the Jordan River.”

4 “You will get water from the creek, and I have told the ravens to bring you food there.”

5 So he dipped and did what the Lord said. He went and lived by the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan.

6 The ravens were bringing him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank water from the creek.

7 But after a while, the creek dried up, because there had not been any rain in the land.

8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying,

9 “Get up, roll out to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and chill there. Look, I told a widow woman there to hook you up with some food.”

10 So he got up and went to Zarephath. When he got to the city gate, there was a widow woman gathering sticks. He called out to her and said, “Listen, can you please bring me a little water in a cup so I can drink?”

11 As she was going to get it, he yelled after her, “And Listen, can you also bring me a piece of bread in your hand?”

12 She said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have any bread, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. Look, I am gathering a couple sticks so I can go in and make it for me and my son, so we can eat it and then just… die.”

13 Elijah told her, “Do not trip. Go ahead and do what you said. But first, make a small cake for me from it and bring it out to me. Then you can make for yourself and your son.”

14 “Because this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour is not going to run out, and the jug of oil is not going to run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.'"

15 So she went and did according to the word of Elijah. And she and he and her household ate for many days.

16 The jar of flour did not run out, and the jug of oil did not run dry, according to the word of the Lord that He spoke through Elijah.

17 After these things, the son of the woman, the owner of the house, got sick. And his sickness got so bad that he stopped breathing.

18 She told Elijah, “What is the beef between me and you, man of God, Did you come to me to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”

19 He told her, “Give me your son.” So he took him from her arms and carried him up to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed.

20 Then he cried out to the Lord and said, “Lord my God, have You brought trouble even on this widow I am staying with, by killing her son?”

21 Then he stretched himself out over the boy three times, and cried out to the Lord, saying, “Lord my God, please let this boy’s life come back into him!”

22 The Lord heard Elijah’s prayer, and the boy’s life came back into him, and he revived.

23 Elijah picked up the boy and brought him down from the upper room into the house and gave him to his mama. And Elijah told her, “Look, your son is alive!”

24 The woman told Elijah, “Now I know for real that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truly legit!”