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1 Kings 17

YHWH sustains life through drought and restores a dead child, confirming the truth of his word through Elijah.

Elijah announces to Ahab that dew and rain will cease at his word. YHWH then sends Elijah to the brook Cherith, where ravens bring him food until the brook dries up. Sent next to a widow in Zarephath, Elijah finds her preparing a last meal for herself and her son. God sustains their food supply, but the boy later dies. Elijah cries out to YHWH, and the child returns to life.

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1Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”
2Then the LORD’s word came to him, saying,
3“Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan.
4You shall drink from the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
5So he went and did according to the LORD’s word, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith that is before the Jordan.
6The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.
7After a while, the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
8The LORD’s word came to him, saying,
9“Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you.”
10So 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.”
11As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12She said, “As the LORD 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.”
13Elijah 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.
14For the LORD, 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 the LORD sends rain on the earth.’”
15She went and did according to the saying of Elijah; and she, he, and her household ate many days.
16The jar of meal didn’t run out and the jar of oil didn’t fail, according to the LORD’s word, which he spoke by Elijah.
17After 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.
18She 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!”
19He 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.
20He cried to the LORD and said, “LORD my God, have you also brought evil on the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?”
21He stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to the LORD and said, “LORD my God, please let this child’s soul come into him again.”
22The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
23Elijah 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.”
24The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the LORD’s word in your mouth is truth.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
1 Kings 17:1Elijah’s announcement places the drought under the authority of Israel’s living God and establishes his role as God’s spokesman.
1 Kings 17:18The widow’s accusation brings grief and fear of judgment into a household that has already received God’s provision.
1 Kings 17:13Elijah asks the widow to act despite her scarcity, grounding his request in YHWH’s promise of food.
Where this chapter reaches

Luke recalls Elijah’s being sent to the widow in Zarephath, sharing this chapter’s person and event as Jesus speaks about a prophet’s reception. James connects Elijah’s prayer with the withholding of rain, sharing the drought event and its dependence on God.

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After reading the whole chapter

What stands out about the widow’s words before the food is provided and after her son dies?

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How does Elijah’s prayer over the child shape what you might write to God about suffering?

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Questions people ask about 1 Kings 17

Why did Elijah ask the widow to feed him first?

Elijah’s request comes with a specific promise from YHWH: her meal and oil will last until rain returns. The widow acts on that word, and the household has food for many days. The passage describes a particular prophetic command and promise; it does not establish a general rule about feeding religious leaders first.

Was the widow’s son killed because of her sin?

The widow connects her son’s death with her sin and Elijah’s presence, but the narrator does not confirm her explanation or name any sin. Elijah also cries out in distress over the death. The account gives no stated reason for it; its conclusion centers on God restoring the child and confirming Elijah’s word.

Did the widow’s son die in 1 Kings 17?

The account presents the boy as dead: his breath is gone, Elijah speaks of his death, and he asks God for the child’s soul to return. YHWH hears Elijah, the child revives, and Elijah returns him to his mother alive. The text does not give a medical diagnosis.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).