Elijah Raises the Widow’s Son
The widow’s son becomes ill until no breath remains in him, and she confronts Elijah in anguish, linking his presence with her sin and her son’s death. The earlier provision gives way to accusation and grief.
L17ater, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill, and his sickness grew worse and worse, until no breath remained in him. 18“O man of God,” said the woman to Elijah, “what have you done to me? Have you come to remind me of my iniquity and cause the death of my son?”
Elijah takes the boy to the upper room and cries out to the LORD over the widow’s loss. As he prays for the child’s life to return, the LORD hears him and the boy lives.
19But Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” 20So he took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. Then he cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have You also brought tragedy on this widow who has opened her home to me, by causing her son to die?” 21Then he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, please let this boy’s life return to him!” 22And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah, and the child’s life returned to him, and he lived.
Elijah brings the living child back to his mother and declares that her son is alive. The woman answers with recognition that Elijah is a man of God and that the LORD’s word in his mouth is truth.
23Then Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. “Look, your son is alive,” Elijah declared. 24Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is truth.”