1 Kings 17:1-9

Elijah Announces a Great Drought

1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe^[a] in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

Elijah Fed by Ravens

2 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah:

3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan.

4 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”

5 So he did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there.

6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

Elijah and the Widow at Zarephath

7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.

8 Then the word of the LORD came to him:

9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.”

1 Kings 17:1-9 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.

Cross References

• 1. Malachi 4:5; Matthew 11:14; Matthew 17:3; James 5:17
• 2. Judges 12:4
• 3. S Deuteronomy 11:17; S Deuteronomy 28:24; S 2 Samuel 1:21; S 1 Kings 8:36; Job 12:15; Deuteronomy 10:8; 1 Kings 18:1; 2 Kings 3:14; S Luke 4:25
• 4. 1 Kings 18:4,10; Jeremiah 36:19,26
• 5. S Genesis 8:7
• 6. Exodus 16:8
• 7. Obadiah 1:20
• 8. Luke 4:26

Footnotes

• [a] Or "Tishbite, of the settlers"