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And Elijah the Tishbite, from the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord lives, the God of Israel, in whose sight I stand, there shall not be dew or rain during these years, except by the words of my mouth.”(a)
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And the word of the Lord came to him, saying:
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“Withdraw from here, and go toward the east, and hide at the torrent Cherith, which is opposite the Jordan.
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And there you shall drink from the torrent. And I have instructed the ravens to feed you there.”
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Therefore, he went and acted in accord with the word of the Lord. And going away, he settled by the torrent Cherith, which is opposite the Jordan.
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And the ravens carried bread and flesh to him in the morning, and likewise bread and flesh in the evening. And he drank from the torrent.
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But after some days, the torrent dried up. For it had not rained upon the earth.
The Widow of Zarephath
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Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying:
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“Rise up, and go to Zarephath of the Sidonians, and dwell there. For I have instructed a widowed woman there to feed you.”(b)
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He rose up and went away to Zarephath. And when he had arrived at the gate of the city, he saw the widowed woman collecting wood, and he called to her. And he said to her, “Give me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.”
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And as she was going to bring it, he called out after her, saying, “Bring me also, I beg you, a morsel of bread in your hand.”
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And she responded: “As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, except a handful of flour in a jar, and a little oil in a bottle. See, I am collecting a couple of sticks, so that I may go in and make it for myself and my son, so that we may eat it and die.”(c)
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And Elijah said to her: “Do not be afraid. But go and do as you have said. Yet truly, first make for me, from the same flour, a little bread baked under ashes, and bring it to me. Then afterward, make some for yourself and for your son.
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For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘The jar of flour will not fail, nor the bottle of oil be diminished, until the day when the Lord will grant rain upon the face of the earth.’ ”
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She went and acted in accord with the word of Elijah. And he ate, and she and her household ate. And from that day,
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the jar of flour did not fail, and the bottle of oil was not diminished, in accord with the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by the hand of Elijah.
Elijah Raises the Widow’s Son
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Now it happened that, after these things, the son of the woman who was the mother of the family became ill. And the sickness was very powerful, so that no breath remained in him.
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Therefore, she said to Elijah: “What is there between you and me, O man of God? Have you entered to me, so that my iniquities would be remembered, and so that you would put to death my son?”
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And Elijah said to her, “Give your son to me.” And he took him from her bosom, and he carried him to an upper room, where he himself was staying. And he placed him on his own bed.
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And he cried out to the Lord, and he said, “O Lord, my God, have you even afflicted the widow by whom I am, in a sense, sustained, so that you would put to death her son?”
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And he stretched himself out beside the boy three times. And he cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord, my God, let the soul of this boy, I beg you, return to his body.”(d)
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And the Lord heeded the voice of Elijah. And the soul of the boy returned to him, and he revived.
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And Elijah took the boy, and he brought him down from the upper room to the lower part of the house. And he gave him to his mother. And he said to her, “See, your son lives.”
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And the woman said to Elijah: “By this, I now realize that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is true.”
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