1 Kings 17:1-6

The Ravens Feed Elijah

1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, ^[a] 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 Then a revelation from the LORD came to Elijah:

3 “Leave here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan. ^[b]

4 And you are to drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

5 So Elijah did what the LORD had told him, and he went and lived by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan.

6 The ravens would bring him bread and meat in the morning and evening, and he would drink from the brook.

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

• [a]. Or who was from Tishbe in Gilead
• [b]. Or the Cherith Ravine, near the Jordan; also in verse 5