The Ravens Feed Elijah 1 UST There was a man whose name was Elijah. He came from the city of Tishbe. He was one of the Tishbites who lived in the region of Gilead. One day he went{ to Samaria} to speak with King Ahab. He told him,“Yahweh is the God whom we Israelites should worship, and he is the God whom I obey. I swear by Yahweh there will be no dew or rain for the next several years unless I say so.” 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 UST Then Yahweh told Elijah, BSB BSB: Then a revelation from the LORD came to Elijah:
3 UST “{ The king is angry with you, so} leave this city of Samaria. Travel east and hide at the Cherith Brook, near the Jordan River. BSB BSB: “Leave here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan.
4 UST When you get there, you can drink water from the brook. And I will have ravens bring food to you there.” BSB BSB: And you are to drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
5 UST So Elijah did what Yahweh commanded him to do. He went and stayed next to the Cherith Brook, near the Jordan River. 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 UST Every morning and every evening, the ravens brought Elijah bread and meat to eat. 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 UST But after a while, because it had stopped raining anywhere in Israel, the brook dried up. BSB BSB: Some time later, however, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
The Widow of Zarephath 8 UST Then Yahweh told Elijah, BSB BSB: Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah:
9 UST “Go and live in the town of Zarephath, which is near the city of Sidon. I have arranged for a widow there to give you food to eat.” 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 UST So Elijah did what God had told him to do. He went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the town, he saw a widow there who was gathering sticks. He said to her,“Would you please bring me a cup of water to drink?” 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 UST As she was going to get it, he called out to her,“Would you please also bring me something to eat?” BSB BSB: And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread.”
12 UST But she replied,“I swear by Yahweh your God that I do not have even a single loaf 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 going to gather a few sticks and then go home and make a fire so that I could cook a meal with them. My son and I would eat that meal, and after that, we would 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 UST But Elijah said to her,“Do not be afraid{ that you will die}. Go home and do what you said you were going to do. But first, bake me a little loaf of bread from your flour and oil and bring it to me. After that, use what is left to prepare some food for yourself and for 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 UST You will be able to do that because Yahweh, the God whom we Israelites worship, has told me,‘There will be flour in that jar and olive oil in that jug right up to the time when I make it rain on the earth{ and 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 UST So the woman did exactly what Elijah told her to do. And she and her son and Elijah had enough food every day from then on, 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 UST because there was always flour in that jar and olive oil in that jug. That was what Yahweh had told Elijah would happen, and that is exactly what happened. 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 UST Some time later, the son of the woman in whose home Elijah was staying became sick. He kept getting sicker, 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 UST So the woman went to Elijah and said to him,“I have treated you kindly as a prophet, so you had no reason to let this happen to me. It seems that you came here to make Yahweh more aware of my sins and that he has punished me 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 UST But Elijah replied,“Give your son to me.” She was holding the boy’ s body, but he took his body from her and carried it up to the room where he was staying. 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 UST Then Elijah cried out to Yahweh,“Yahweh my God, this widow has kindly allowed me to stay in her home. It does not seem right that you have caused her this tragedy and allowed 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 UST Then Elijah stretched himself on top of the boy’ s body three times. He cried out to Yahweh,“Yahweh my God, please cause this boy to become alive again!” 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 UST Yahweh did what Elijah asked him to do. 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 UST Then Elijah carried the boy down from his room back into the house. He handed him to his mother and 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 UST The woman told Elijah,“Now I know for certain that you are a prophet and that when you say a message is from Yahweh, it truly is!” 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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