1 Kings · Bible in Basic English
1 Kings 17 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 And Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, By the living Lord, the God of Israel, whose servant I am, there will be no dew or rain in these years, but only at my word.
1 Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”
2 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
2 Then Yahweh’s word came to him, saying,
3 Go from here in the direction of the east, and keep yourself in a secret place by the stream Cherith, east of Jordan.
3 “Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan.
4 The water of the stream will be your drink, and by my orders the ravens will give you food there.
4 You shall drink from the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
5 So he went and did as the Lord said, living by the stream Cherith, east of Jordan.
5 So he went and did according to Yahweh’s word, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith that is before the Jordan.
6 And the ravens took him bread in the morning and meat in the evening; and the water of the stream was his drink.
6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.
7 Now after a time the stream became dry, because there was no rain in the land.
7 After a while, the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
8 Yahweh’s word came to him, saying,
9 Up! go now to Zarephath, in Zidon, and make your living-place there; I have given orders to a widow woman there to see that you have food.
9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you.”
10 So he got up and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the door of the town, he saw a widow woman getting sticks together; and crying out to her he said, Will you give me a little water in a vessel for my drink?
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.”
11 And when she was going to get it, he said to her, And get me with it a small bit of bread.
11 As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12 Then she said, By the life of the Lord your God, I have nothing but a little meal in my store, and a drop of oil in the bottle; and now I am getting two sticks together so that I may go in and make it ready for me and my son, so that we may have a meal before our death.
12 She said, “As Yahweh your God lives, I don’t have anything baked, but only a handful of meal in a jar and a little oil in a jar. Behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
13 And Elijah said to her, Have no fear; go and do as you have said, but first make me a little cake of it and come and give it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son.
13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you have said; but make me a little cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for you and for your son.
14 For this is the word of the Lord, the God of Israel: The store of meal will not come to an end, and the bottle will never be without oil, till the day when the Lord sends rain on the earth.
14 For Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘The jar of meal will not run out, and the jar of oil will not fail, until the day that Yahweh sends rain on the earth.’”
15 So she went and did as Elijah said; and she and he and her family had food for a long time.
15 She went and did according to the saying of Elijah; and she, he, and her household ate many days.
16 The store of meal did not come to an end, and the bottle was never without oil, as the Lord had said by the mouth of Elijah.
16 The jar of meal didn’t run out and the jar of oil didn’t fail, according to Yahweh’s word, which he spoke by Elijah.
17 Now after this, the son of the woman of the house became ill, so ill that there was no breath in him.
17 After these things, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.
18 And she said to Elijah, What have I to do with you, O man of God? have you come to put God in mind of my sin, and to put my son to death?
18 She said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!”
19 And he said to her, Give your son to me. And lifting him out of her arms, he took him up to his room and put him down on his bed.
19 He said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the room where he stayed, and laid him on his own bed.
20 And crying to the Lord he said, O Lord my God, have you sent evil even on the widow whose guest I am, by causing her son's death?
20 He cried to Yahweh and said, “Yahweh my God, have you also brought evil on the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?”
21 And stretching herself out on the child three times, he made his prayer to the Lord, saying, O Lord my God, be pleased to let this child's life come back to him again.
21 He stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to Yahweh and said, “Yahweh my God, please let this child’s soul come into him again.”
22 And the Lord gave ear to the voice of Elijah, and the child's spirit came into him again, and he came back to life.
22 Yahweh listened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
23 And Elijah took the child down from his room into the house and gave him to his mother and said to her, See, your son is living.
23 Elijah took the child and brought him down out of the room into the house, and delivered him to his mother; and Elijah said, “Behold, your son lives.”
24 Then the woman said to Elijah, Now I am certain that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is true.
24 The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that Yahweh’s word in your mouth is truth.”
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Elijah the Tishbite
A prophet among the settlers of Gilead who announced a drought to Ahab, was fed by ravens, revived the widow's son at Zarephath, defeated Baal's prophets on Mount Carmel, heard…
Cited in the guide: 1 Kings 17:1; 1 Kings 18:36; 1 Kings 19:9
Cross references (24)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Luke 4:25–26; James 5:17; Luke 1:17; 1 Kings 22:14; 2 Kings 3:14
- 2 Jeremiah 18:1; Jeremiah 11:1; 1 Chronicles 17:3; Hosea 1:1–2; 1 Kings 12:22
- 3 Jeremiah 36:26; Psalm 31:20; Revelation 12:6; Hebrews 11:38; Psalm 83:3
- 4 1 Kings 17:9; Psalm 147:9; Job 38:41; 1 Kings 19:5–8; Matthew 4:4
- 5 Matthew 16:24; John 15:14; Proverbs 3:5; 1 Kings 19:9
- 6 Psalm 78:23–24; Matthew 6:31–33; Jeremiah 37:21; Psalm 78:15–16; Matthew 14:19–21
- 7 Isaiah 54:10; Isaiah 40:30–31
- 8 Genesis 22:14; 1 Kings 17:2; Hebrews 13:6; Isaiah 41:17
- 9 Luke 4:26; Obadiah 20; 2 Corinthians 4:7; 1 Kings 17:4; Matthew 15:21–22
- 10 John 4:7; Genesis 24:17; Hebrews 11:37; 2 Corinthians 11:27; Genesis 21:15
- 11 Genesis 24:18–19; Hebrews 13:2; Genesis 18:5; 1 Kings 18:4; Matthew 25:35–40
- 12 Matthew 15:33–34; 1 Kings 17:1; 2 Kings 4:2–7; Genesis 21:16; Ezekiel 12:18–19
- 13 Malachi 3:10; Matthew 6:33; Judges 7:5–7; Matthew 28:5; Proverbs 3:9
- 14 Matthew 15:36–38; Matthew 14:17–20; 2 Kings 4:42–44; 2 Kings 3:16; 2 Kings 7:1
- 15 Genesis 6:22; Matthew 15:28; Hebrews 11:17; Mark 12:43; Romans 4:19–20
- 16 Matthew 9:28–30; Luke 1:37; John 4:50–51; Matthew 19:26; 1 Kings 16:12
- 17 James 1:12; John 11:14; James 1:2–4; Job 34:14; John 11:3–4
- 18 Luke 5:8; Luke 4:34; John 2:4; 2 Kings 3:13; 2 Samuel 16:10
- 19 2 Kings 4:32; Acts 9:37; 2 Kings 4:10; 2 Kings 4:21
- 20 James 5:15–18; Matthew 21:22; 1 Samuel 7:8–9; Exodus 17:4; 2 Kings 19:15
- 21 Acts 20:10; Acts 9:40; 2 Kings 4:33–35; Hebrews 11:19; Acts 10:10
- 22 Revelation 11:11; Deuteronomy 32:39; John 5:28–29; Hebrews 11:35; Romans 14:9
- 23 2 Kings 4:36–37; Luke 7:15; Acts 9:41; Hebrews 11:35
- 24 John 16:30; John 2:11; John 3:2; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 John 2:21
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Not even His servant Elias, to whom He sent bread and flesh by the ravens upon a certain occasion had need of this; and yet that a religious widow might be blessed, the servant of God is sent, and he whom God in secret did feed, is fed by the widow.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)