A Widow Sustains Elijah

17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of ^[a](A)the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “^(B)As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, surely ^(C)there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” ² Then the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, ³ “Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is ^[b]east of the Jordan. ⁴ And it will be that you will drink of the brook, and ^(D)I have commanded the ravens to sustain you there.” ⁵ So he went and did according to the word of Yahweh, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is ^[c]east of the Jordan. ⁶ And the ravens were bringing him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. ⁷ Now it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

⁸ Then the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, ⁹ “Arise, go to ^(E)Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and remain there; behold, ^(F)I have commanded a widow there to sustain you.” ¹⁰ So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and ^(G)he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a ^[d]jar, that I may drink.” ¹¹ So she went to get it, and he called to her and said, “Please get me a piece of bread in your hand.” ¹² But she said, “^(H)As Yahweh your God lives, ^(I)I have no ^[e]bread, only a handful of flour in the ^[f]bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering ^[g]a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and ^(J)die.” ¹³ Then Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from ^[h]it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. ¹⁴ For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘The ^[i]bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil ^[j]be empty, until the day that Yahweh sends rain on the face of the earth.’” 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 ^[k]bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil ^[l]become empty, according to the word of Yahweh which He spoke by the hand of Elijah.

Yahweh Returns Life to the Widow’s Son

¹⁷ Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. ¹⁸ So she said to Elijah, “^(K)What do I have to do with you, O ^(L)man of God? ^[m]You have come to me to bring my iniquity to remembrance and to put my son to death!” ¹⁹ And he said to her, “Give me your son.” Then he took him from her bosom and carried him up to the upper room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed. ²⁰ Then he called to Yahweh and said, “O Yahweh my God, have You also brought calamity to the widow with whom I am sojourning, by causing her son to die?” ^21 (M)Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called to Yahweh and said, “O Yahweh my God, I pray You, let this child’s life return ^[n]to him.” ²² And Yahweh heard the voice of Elijah, ^(N)and the life of the child returned ^[o]to him and he became alive. ²³ Then Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” ²⁴ Then the woman said to Elijah, “^(O)Now I know this: that you are a man of God and that the word of Yahweh in your mouth is truth.”