1 Kings 17:1

Elijah Visits a Widow in Sidonian Territory

17:1 Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As certainly as the Lord God of Israel lives (whom I serve), ¹  there will be no dew or rain in the years ahead unless I give the command.” ² 

1 Kings 17:13

17:13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you planned. ³  But first make a small cake for me and bring it to me; then make something for yourself and your son.

1 Kings 18:1

Elijah Meets the King’s Servant

18:1 Some time later, in the third year of the famine, the Lord told Elijah, ⁴  “Go, make an appearance before Ahab, so I may send rain on the surface of the ground.”

1 Kings 18:18

18:18 Elijah ⁵  replied, “I have not brought disaster ⁶  on Israel. But you and your father’s dynasty have, by abandoning the Lord’s commandments and following the Baals.

1 Kings 18:25

18:25 Elijah told the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls for yourselves and go first, for you are the majority. Invoke the name of your god, but do not light a fire.” ⁷ 

1 Kings 18:42-43

18:42 So Ahab went on up to eat and drink, while Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel. He bent down toward the ground and put his face between his knees. 18:43 He told his servant, “Go on up and look in the direction of the sea.” So he went on up, looked, and reported, “There is nothing.” ⁸  Seven times Elijah sent him to look. ⁹ 

1 Kings 19:2

19:2 Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah with this warning, ¹⁰  “May the gods judge me severely ¹¹  if by this time tomorrow I do not take your life as you did theirs!” ¹² 

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¹ tn Heb “before whom I stand.”

² tn Heb “except at the command of my word.”

³ tn Heb “according to your word.”

⁴ tn Heb “the word of the Lord came to Elijah.”

⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Or “trouble.”

⁷ tc The last sentence of v. 25 is absent in the Syriac Peshitta.

⁸ sn So he went on up, looked, and reported, “There is nothing.” Several times in this chapter those addressed by Elijah obey his orders. In vv. 20 and 42 Ahab does as instructed, in vv. 26 and 28 the prophets follow Elijah’s advice, and in vv. 30, 34, 40 and 43 the people and servants do as they are told. By juxtaposing Elijah’s commands with accounts of those commands being obeyed, the narrator emphasizes the authority of the Lord’s prophet.

⁹ tn Heb “He said, ‘Return,’ seven times.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “saying.”

¹¹ tn Heb “So may the gods do to me, and so may they add.”

¹² tn Heb “I do not make your life like the life of one of them.”