The Ravens Feed Elijah 1 UDB Elijah was a prophet who lived in the city of Tishbe in the region of Gilead. One day, he went to King Ahab and said to him, "Yahweh is the God whom we Israelites worship and the God whom I worship and serve. Just as certainly as Yahweh lives, there will be no dew or rain for the next few years unless I command it to fall." BSB BSB: Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”
2 UDB Then Yahweh said to Elijah, BSB BSB: Then a revelation from the LORD came to Elijah:
3 UDB "Because you have made the king angry with you, escape from the king and go to the east, to the Kerith Brook, east of where it flows into the Jordan River. BSB BSB: “Leave here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan.
4 UDB You will be able to drink water from the brook, and you will be able to eat what the crows bring to you because I have commanded them to bring food to you." BSB BSB: And you are to drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
5 UDB So Elijah did what Yahweh commanded him to do. He went and camped alongside Kerith Brook. BSB BSB: So Elijah did what the LORD had told him, and he went and lived by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan.
6 UDB Crows brought bread and meat to him every morning and every evening, and he drank water from the brook. BSB BSB: The ravens would bring him bread and meat in the morning and evening, and he would drink from the brook.
7 UDB But after a while, the water in the brook dried up because rain did not fall anywhere in the land. BSB BSB: Some time later, however, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
The Widow of Zarephath 8 UDB Then Yahweh said to Elijah, BSB BSB: Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah:
9 UDB "Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. There is a widow there who will give you food to eat. I have already told her what to do about that." BSB BSB: “Get up and go to Zarephath of Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
10 UDB So Elijah did what God said. He went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow who was gathering sticks. He said to her, "Would you please bring me a cup of water?" BSB BSB: So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the city gate, there was a widow gathering sticks. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, so that I may drink.”
11 UDB While she was going to get it, he called out to her, "Bring me a piece of bread, too!" BSB BSB: And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread.”
12 UDB But she replied, "Your God knows that what I am telling you is true. I do not have even one piece of bread in my house. I have only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I was gathering a few sticks to use these to make a fire and cook one more meal, and then after my son and I eat that, we will die from hunger." BSB BSB: But she replied, “As surely as the LORD your God lives, I have no bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. Look, I am gathering a couple of sticks to take home and prepare a meal for myself and my son, so that we may eat it and die.”
13 UDB But Elijah said to her, "Do not be worried! Go home and do what you said that you were going to do. But first, bake me a little loaf of bread and bring it to me. After you do that, take what is left and prepare some food for you and your son. BSB BSB: “Do not be afraid,” Elijah said to her. “Go and do as you have said. But first make me a small cake of bread from what you have, and bring it out to me. Afterward, make some for yourself and your son,
14 UDB I know that you will be able to do that because Yahweh, the God whom we Israelites worship, says this, 'There will always be plenty of flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when I send rain again and the crops grow again!'" BSB BSB: for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be exhausted and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain upon the face of the earth.’”
15 UDB So the woman did exactly what Elijah told her to do. And she and her son and Elijah had enough food every day BSB BSB: So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and there was food every day for Elijah and the woman and her household.
16 UDB because the flour in the jar was never finished, and the jug of oil was never empty. That happened just as Yahweh had told Elijah that it would happen. BSB BSB: The jar of flour was not exhausted and the jug of oil did not run dry, according to the word that the LORD had spoken through Elijah.
Elijah Raises the Widow’s Son 17 UDB Some time later, the woman's son became sick. He continued to get worse, and finally he died. BSB BSB: Later, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill, and his sickness grew worse and worse, until no breath remained in him.
18 UDB So the woman went to Elijah and said to him, "You are a prophet; so why have you done this to me? Have you come here to punish me for my sins by causing my son to die?" BSB BSB: “O man of God,” said the woman to Elijah, “what have you done to me? Have you come to remind me of my iniquity and cause the death of my son?”
19 UDB But Elijah replied, "Give your son to me." So she gave her son to him, and he took the boy's body from her and carried it up the steps to the room where he stayed. He laid the boy's body on his bed. BSB BSB: But Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed.
20 UDB Then Elijah cried out to Yahweh, "O Yahweh my God, this widow has kindly allowed me to stay in her home. So why have you brought this tragedy to her and caused her son to die?" BSB BSB: Then he cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have You also brought tragedy on this widow who has opened her home to me, by causing her son to die?”
21 UDB Then Elijah stretched himself on top of the boy's body and called out to Yahweh saying, "Yahweh my God, please allow this boy to become alive again!" He did this three times. BSB BSB: Then he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, please let this boy’s life return to him!”
22 UDB Yahweh heard what Elijah prayed, and he caused the boy to become alive again. BSB BSB: And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah, and the child’s life returned to him, and he lived.
23 UDB Elijah carried the boy down the steps and gave him to his mother. He said, "Look, your son is alive!" BSB BSB: Then Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. “Look, your son is alive,” Elijah declared.
24 UDB The woman said to Elijah, "Now I know for certain that you are a prophet and that the words that you speak are truly from Yahweh!" BSB BSB: Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is truth.”
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