Elijah Announces Famine

17 Now Elijah^(A) the Tishbite, from the Gilead settlers,^[a](B) said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives,^(C) I stand before Him, and there will be no dew or rain during these years except by my command!”^(D)

Elijah’s Message to Ahab

18 After a long time, the word of the Lord^(A) came to Elijah in the third year:^(B) “Go and present yourself to Ahab.^(C) I will send rain on the surface of the land.”

²⁵ But I say to you, there were certainly many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days,^(A) when the sky was shut up for three years and six months while a great famine came over all the land.

¹⁵ “Men! Why are you doing these things? We are men also, with the same nature as you, and we are proclaiming good news to you, that you should turn from these worthless things^(A) to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.^(B)[a]