1 Kings 17:18-24

18 Therefore she said to Elijah, What to me and to thee, thou man of God? Enteredest thou to me, that my wickedness should be remembered, and that thou shouldest slay my son?
19 And Elijah said to her, Give thy son to me. And he took that son from her bosom, and bare into the solar, where he dwelled; and he put him on his bed. (And he took her son from her bosom, and carried him up to the solarium, where he stayed; and he put him on his bed.)
20 And he cried to the Lord, and said, My Lord God, whether thou hast tormented also the widow (hast thou tormented this widow), with whom I am sustained in all manner, (so) that thou killedest her son?
21 He spread abroad himself, and was meted upon the child by three times; and he cried to the Lord, and said, My Lord God, I beseech, the soul of this child turn again into the entrails of him. (Then he stretched himself over, or above, the child three times; and he cried to the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I beseech thee, let the soul of this child return to his entrails.)
22 The Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child turned again within him, and he lived again.
23 And Elijah took the child, and put him down of the solar into the lower house (and took him down from the solarium to the lower part of the house), and betook him to his mother; and he said to her, Lo! thy son liveth.
24 And the woman said to Elijah, Now in this I have known, that thou art a man of God, and the word of the Lord is sooth in thy mouth. (And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know, that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord from thy mouth is truth.)

1 Kings 17:18-24 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.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.