1 Kings 17:1-7·~1 min

The Ravens Feed Elijah

Elijah declares that rain will cease except at his word, and the LORD immediately directs him into hiding by the brook, where ravens are appointed to feed him. Judgment and provision arrive together.

N¹ow Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!” ²Then a revelation from the LORD came to Elijah: ³“Leave here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan. ⁴And you are to drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

Elijah obeys and lives by the brook, receiving bread and meat from ravens morning and evening. In time the brook dries up, showing that the drought he announced has reached even his refuge.

⁵So Elijah did what the LORD had told him, and he went and lived by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan. ⁶The ravens would bring him bread and meat in the morning and evening, and he would drink from the brook. ⁷Some time later, however, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.

Section summaryElijah announces a drought before Ahab, then disappears into the wilderness at the LORD’s command. There, while the land begins to dry, the LORD sustains him with water from the brook and food brought by ravens until the brook itself fails.

Role in the chapterThis opening section introduces Elijah as a prophet whose word governs the drought and whose life is held by the same God who sends it. It establishes both judgment on the land and the LORD’s precise care for his servant.