1   And Elias the Thesbite of the inhabiters of Galaad said to Achab: Our Lord liueth the God of Israel, in whose sight I stand, if there shal be these yearer dew and rayne, but according to the wordes of my mouth.

2   And the word of our Lord came to him, saying:

3   Depart from hence, and goe agaynst the East, and be hidde in the Torrent carith, which is agaynst Iordan,

4   and there thou shalt drinke of the torrent: and I haue commanded the rauens that they feede thee there

5   He therfore went, and did according to the word of our Lord: and when he was gone, he sate in the Torrent carith, which is against Iordan.

6   The rauens also brought him bread

Elias. Achab. and flesh in the morning, in like maner bread and flesh in the euening, and he dranke of the torrent.

7   But after certayne daies the torrent was dried: for it had not rayned vpon the earth.

8   Therfore the word of our Lord came to him, saying:

9   Arise, and goe into Sareptha of the Sidonians, and thou shalt tarie there: for I haue commanded a wydow woman there to feede thee. ^note

10   He arose, and went into Sareptha. And when he was come to the gate of the citie, the wydow woman appeared to him gathering stickes, and he called her, and sayd to her: Geue me a litle water in a vessel, that I may drinke.

11   And when she went to fetch it, he cried after her saying: Bring me also, I beseche thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand.

12   Who answered: Our Lord thy God liueth, I haue no bread, but so much meale in a potte as a hand can hold, and a litle oile in a vessel: behold I gather two stickes, that I may goe in, and dresse it for me and my sonne, that we may eate, and die.

13   To whom Elias sayd: feare not, but goe, and doe as thou hast sayd: but first make for me of the same meale a litle harth cake, and bring it to me: and for thy self and thy sonne thou shalt make afterward. ^note

14   For thus sayth our Lord the God of Israel: The potte of meale shal not fayle, nor the vessel of oile be diminished vntil the day, wherin our Lord wil geue rayne vpon the face of the earth.

15   Who went and did according to the word of Elias: and he did eate, and she, and her house: and from that day

16   the pot of meale fayled not, and the vessel of oyle was not diminished, according to the word of our Lord, which he spake in the hand of Elias.

17   And it came to passe after these thinges, the sonne of the woman, the goodwife of the house, fel sicke, and the sickenesse was verie vehement so that there remayned no breath in him.

18   She therfore sayd to Elias: What is to me and thee thou man of God? comest thou vnto me, that myne iniquities might be remembred, and thou mightest kil my sonne?

19   And Elias sayd to her: Geue me thy sonne. And he tooke him from her bosome, and caried him into the vpper chamber where him self abode, and layd him vpon his bed.

20   And he cried to our Lord, and sayd: O Lord my God, ^note what, the widow also with whom I am after a sort susteyned, hast thou afflicted, that thou wouldest kil her sonne?

21   And he stretched forth, & measured him selfe vpon the childe three tymes, & he cried to our Lord, and sayd. O Lord my God, let the soule of this childe, I beseche

Achab. Elias the prophet. thee, returne into his bodie.

22   And our Lord heard the voice of Elias: and the soule of the child returned into him, and he reuiued.

23   And Elias tooke the childe, and brought him downe from the vpper chamber into the lower house, and deliuered him to his mother, and sayd to her: Behold thy sonne liueth.

24   And the woman sayd to Elias: Now, in this I haue knowen that thou art a man of God, and the word of our Lord in the mouth is true.

Previous section

Next section