1 Kings 17:1-6

Elijah Announces Famine

1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from the Gilead settlers,[a] said to Ahab, "As the Lord God of Israel lives, I stand before Him, and there will be no dew or rain during these years except by my command!"
2 Then a revelation from the Lord came to him:
3 "Leave here, turn eastward, and hide yourself at the Wadi Cherith where it enters the Jordan.
4 You are to drink from the wadi. I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there."
5 So he did what the Lord commanded. Elijah left and lived by the Wadi Cherith where it enters the Jordan.
6 The ravens kept bringing him bread and meat in the morning and in the evening, and he drank from the wadi.

1 Kings 17:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 17

This chapter begins with a prophecy of Elijah, that there should be want of rain for some years to come, and he is directed to go first to the brook Cherith, where he should be fed by ravens, 1Ki 17:1-7, and afterwards he is sent to a widow at Zarephath, where he, she, and her son, were supported for a considerable time with a handful of meal, and a little oil in a cruse miraculously increased, 1Ki 17:8-16, whose son falling sick and dying, he restored to life, 1Ki 17:17-24.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. LXX reads from Tishbe of Gilead
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