CHAPTER 17
1 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the dwellers of Gilead, said to Ahab, The Lord God of Israel liveth, in whose sight I stand, dew and rain shall not be in these years, no but by the words of my mouth.
2 And the word of the Lord was made to him, and said,
3 Go thou away from hence, and go against the east, and be thou hid in the strand [or stream] of Cherith, that is against Jordan,
4 and there thou shalt drink of the strand; and I have commanded to [the] crows, that they feed thee there.
5 Therefore he went, and did by the word of the Lord; and when he had gone, he sat in the strand [or stream] of Cherith, that is against Jordan.
6 And [the] crows bare to him bread and flesh early; and in like manner in the eventide; and he drank of the strand [or stream].
7 And after some days the strand was dried; for it had not rained on the earth.
8 Therefore the word of the Lord was made to him, and said,
9 Rise thou, and go into Zarephath of Sidonians, and thou shalt dwell there; for I have commanded to a woman widow there, that she feed thee.
10 He rose, and went into Zarephath of Sidonians; and when he had come to the gate of the city, a woman widow gathering sticks appeared to him; and he called her, and said to her, Give thou to me a little of water in a vessel, that I drink.
11 And when she went to bring it, he cried behind her back, and said, I beseech, bring thou to me also a morsel of bread in thine hand.
12 And she answered, Thy Lord God liveth, for I have no bread, no but as much of meal in a pot, as a fist[ful] may take, and a little of oil in a vessel; lo! I gather two sticks, that I enter, and make it to me, and to my son, that we eat, and die.
13 And Elijah said to her, Do not thou dread, but go, and make as thou saidest; nevertheless make thou first to me of that little meal a little loaf, baked under ashes, and bring thou it to me; soothly thou shalt make after-ward to thee and to thy son.
14 Forsooth the Lord God of Israel saith these things, The pot of meal shall not fail, and the vessel of oil shall not be abated, till to the day in which the Lord shall give rain on the face of the earth.
15 And she went, and did by the word of Elijah; and he ate, and she, and her house.
16 And from that day the pot of meal failed not, and the vessel of oil was not abated, by the word of the Lord, which he had spoken in the hand of Elijah.
17 Forsooth it was done after these words, the son of a woman house-wife, was sick, and the sickness was full strong, so that breath dwelled not in him.
18 Therefore she said to Elijah, What to me and to thee, thou man of God? Enteredest thou to me, that my wicked-ness 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.
20 And he cried to the Lord, and said, My Lord God, whether thou hast tormented also the widow, with whom I am sustained in all manner, that thou killedest her son?
21 He spread abroad himself, and was meted [or measured] 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.
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 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.