1 Kings 17:17-24

17:17 After this ¹  the son of the woman who owned the house got sick. His illness was so severe he could no longer breathe. 17:18 She asked Elijah, “Why, prophet, have you come ²  to me to confront me with ³  my sin and kill my son?” 17:19 He said to her, “Hand me your son.” He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him down on his bed. 17:20 Then he called out to the Lord, “O Lord, my God, are you also bringing disaster on this widow I am staying with by killing her son?” 17:21 He stretched out over the boy three times and called out to the Lord, “O Lord, my God, please let this boy’s breath return to him.” 17:22 The Lord answered Elijah’s prayer; the boy’s breath returned to him and he lived. 17:23 Elijah took the boy, brought him down from the upper room to the house, and handed him to his mother. Elijah then said, “See, your son is alive!” 17:24 The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a prophet and that the Lord really does speak through you.” ⁴ 

1 Kings 18:3-15

18:3 So Ahab summoned Obadiah, who supervised the palace. (Now Obadiah was a very loyal follower of the Lord. ⁵  18:4 When Jezebel was killing ⁶  the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah took one hundred prophets and hid them in two caves in two groups of fifty. He also brought them food and water.) 18:5 Ahab told Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grazing areas ⁷  so we can keep the horses and mules alive and not have to kill ⁸  some of the animals.” 18:6 They divided up the land between them; Ahab went ⁹  one way and Obadiah went the other.

18:7 As Obadiah was traveling along, Elijah met him. ¹⁰  When he recognized him, he fell facedown to the ground and said, “Is it really you, my master, Elijah?” 18:8 He replied, “Yes, ¹¹  go and say to your master, ‘Elijah is back.’” ¹²  18:9 Obadiah ¹³  said, “What sin have I committed that you are ready to hand your servant over to Ahab for execution? ¹⁴  18:10 As certainly as the Lord your God lives, my master has sent to every nation and kingdom in an effort to find you. When they say, ‘He’s not here,’ he makes them ¹⁵  swear an oath that they could not find you. 18:11 Now you say, ‘Go and say to your master, “Elijah is back.”’ ¹⁶  18:12 But when I leave you, the Lord’s spirit will carry you away so I can’t find you. ¹⁷  If I go tell Ahab I’ve seen you, he won’t be able to find you and he will kill me. ¹⁸  That would not be fair, ¹⁹  because your servant has been a loyal follower of ²⁰  the Lord from my youth. 18:13 Certainly my master is aware of what I did ²¹  when Jezebel was killing the Lord’s prophets. I hid one hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves in two groups of fifty and I brought them food and water. 18:14 Now you say, ‘Go and say to your master, “Elijah is back,”’ ²²  but he will kill me.” 18:15 But Elijah said, “As certainly as the Lord who rules over all ²³  lives (whom I serve), ²⁴  I will make an appearance before him today.”

[17:17]  ¹ tn Heb “after these things.”

[17:18]  ² tn Heb “What to me and to you, man of God, that you have come.”

[17:18]  ³ tn Heb “to make me remember.”

[17:24]  ³ tn Heb “you are a man of God and the word of the Lord is truly in your mouth.”

[18:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “now Obadiah greatly feared the Lord.” “Fear” refers here to obedience and allegiance, the products of healthy respect for the Lord’s authority.

[18:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “cutting off.”

[18:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “grass.”

[18:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “to cut off.”

[18:6]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text has “alone” here and again in reference to Obadiah toward the end of the verse.

[18:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “look, Elijah [came] to meet him.”

[18:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “[It is] I.”

[18:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Look, Elijah”; or “Elijah is here.”

[18:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Obadiah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to kill me.”

[18:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he makes the kingdom or the nation swear an oath.”

[18:11]  ¹² tn Heb “Look, Elijah”; or “Elijah is here.”

[18:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “to [a place] which I do not know.”

[18:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and I will go to inform Ahab and he will not find you and he will kill me.”

[18:12]  ¹⁵ tn The words “that would not be fair” are added to clarify the logic of Obadiah’s argument.

[18:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “has feared the Lord” (also see the note at 1 Kgs 18:3).

[18:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Has it not been told to my master what I did…?” The rhetorical question expects an answer, “Of course it has!”

[18:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Look, Elijah”; or “Elijah is here.”

[18:15]  ¹⁶ tn Traditionally, “the Lord of Hosts.”

[18:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “(before whom I stand).”