“…, 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.”
1 Kings 17:1b New International Version (NIV)
Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath
in the region of Sidon and stay there.
I have directed a widow there to supply you
with food.” So he went to Zarephath.
1 Kings 17:7-11 (NIV)
When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks.
He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?”
As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”
1 Kings 17:7-11 (NIV)
“As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour
in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug.
I am gathering a few sticks to take home and
make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”
1 Kings 17:12 (NIV)
Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and
your son. For this is what the Lord,
the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not
be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”
1 Kings 17:13-14 (NIV)
She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was
not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord
spoken by Elijah.
1 Kings 17:15-16 (NIV)
Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse
and worse, and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me
of my sin and kill my son?”
1 Kings 17:17-18 (NIV)
“Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am
staying with, by causing her son to die?” Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God,
let this boy’s life return to him!”
1 Kings 17:19-21 (NIV)
The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into
the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!” Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”
1 Kings 17:22-24 (NIV)
Now to him who is able to do immeasurable more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV)