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 17:7

17:7 After a while, ³  the stream dried up because there had been no rain in the land.

1 Kings 17:15

17:15 She went and did as Elijah told her; there was always enough food for Elijah and for her and her family. ⁴ 

Luke 4:25

4:25 But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days, ⁵  when the sky ⁶  was shut up three and a half years, and ⁷  there was a great famine over all the land.

James 5:17

5:17 Elijah was a human being ⁸  like us, and he prayed earnestly ⁹  that it would not rain and there was no rain on the land for three years and six months!

¹ tn Heb “before whom I stand.”

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

³ tn Heb “And it came about at the end of days.”

⁴ tn Heb “and she ate, she and he and her house [for] days.”

⁵ sn Elijah’s days. Jesus, by discussing Elijah and Elisha, pictures one of the lowest periods in Israel’s history. These examples, along with v. 24, also show that Jesus is making prophetic claims as well as messianic ones. See 1 Kgs 17-18.

⁶ tn Or “the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. Since the context here refers to a drought (which produced the famine), “sky” is preferable.

⁷ tn Grk “as.” The particle ὡς can also function temporally (see BDAG 1105-6 s.v. 8).

⁸ tn Although it is certainly true that Elijah was a “man,” here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") has been translated as “human being” because the emphasis in context is not on Elijah’s masculine gender, but on the common humanity he shared with the author and the readers.

⁹ tn Grk “he prayed with prayer” (using a Hebrew idiom to show intensity).