Elijah Predicts a Drought

¹Now Elijah the Tishbite, of sTishbe1 in Gilead, said to Ahab, t“As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, ubefore whom I stand, vthere shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” ²And the word of the Lord came to him: ³“Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. ⁴You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” ⁵So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. ⁶And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. ⁷And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

The Widow of Zarephath

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to him, ⁹“Arise, go to wZarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” ¹⁰So he arose and went to wZarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there xgathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” ¹¹And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” ¹²And she said, t“As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” ¹³And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. ¹⁴For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’” ¹⁵And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. ¹⁶The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

Elijah Raises the Widow's Son

¹⁷After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. ¹⁸And she said to Elijah, y“What have you against me, O zman of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” ¹⁹And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. ²⁰And he cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?” ²¹aThen he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child's life2 come into him again.” ²²And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and bhe revived. ²³And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.” ²⁴And the woman said to Elijah, c“Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

¹Masters, treat your bondservants1 justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

Further Instructions

²cContinue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it dwith thanksgiving. ³At the same time, pray also for us, that God may eopen to us a door for the word, fto declare the mystery of Christ, gon account of which I am in prison— ⁴that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

⁵hWalk in wisdom toward ioutsiders, making the best use of the time. ⁶Let your speech always jbe gracious, kseasoned with salt, lso that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Final Greetings

⁷Tychicus will tell you mall about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant2 in the Lord. ⁸I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, ⁹and with him nOnesimus, our faithful and obeloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here.

¹⁰pAristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark qthe cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—rif he comes to you, welcome him), ¹¹and Jesus who is called sJustus. tThese are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and uthey have been a comfort to me. ¹²vEpaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always wstruggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand xmature and fully assured in all the will of God. ¹³For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. ¹⁴yLuke the beloved physician greets you, as does zDemas. ¹⁵Give my greetings to the brothers3 at Laodicea, and to Nympha and athe church in her house. ¹⁶And when bthis letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. ¹⁷And say to cArchippus, “See that you fulfill dthe ministry that you have received in the Lord.”

¹⁸I, Paul, ewrite this greeting with my own hand. fRemember gmy chains. hGrace be with you.

Water Flowing from the Temple

¹Then he brought me back to xthe door of the temple, and behold, ywater was issuing from below zthe threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of athe altar. ²Then he brought me out by way of bthe north gate and led me around on the outside to cthe outer gate that faces toward the east; and behold, the water was trickling out on the south side.

³Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, dthe man measured a thousand cubits,1 and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep. ⁴Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was waist-deep. ⁵Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. ⁶And he said to me, e“Son of man, fhave you seen this?”

Then he led me back to the bank of the river. ⁷As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river gvery many trees on the one side and on the other. ⁸And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into hthe Arabah, and enters the sea;2 when the water flows into ithe sea, the water will become fresh.3 ⁹And wherever the river goes,4 every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea5 may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. ¹⁰Fishermen will stand beside the sea. From jEngedi to kEneglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets. Its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of lthe Great Sea.6 ¹¹But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. ¹²And on the banks, mon both sides of the river, there will grow nall kinds of trees for food. oTheir leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, pbut they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and ptheir leaves for healing.”

Division of the Land

¹³Thus says the Lord God: “This is the boundary7 by which qyou shall divide the land for inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel. rJoseph shall have two portions. ¹⁴And you shall divide equally what sI swore tto give to your fathers. uThis land shall fall to you as your inheritance.

¹⁵“This shall be the boundary of the land: On the north side, from lthe Great Sea vby way of Hethlon to Lebo-hamath, and on to wZedad,8 ¹⁶xBerothah, Sibraim (which lies on the border between yDamascus and vHamath), as far as Hazer-hatticon, which is on the border of Hauran. ¹⁷So the boundary shall run from the sea to zHazar-enan, which is on the northern border of Damascus, with the border of Hamath to the north.9 This shall be the north side.10

¹⁸“On the east side, the boundary shall run between Hauran and Damascus; along the Jordan between aGilead and the land of Israel; to bthe eastern sea and as far as Tamar.11 This shall be the east side.

¹⁹“On the south side, it shall run from cTamar as far as dthe waters of Meribah-kadesh, from there along ethe Brook of Egypt12 to fthe Great Sea. This shall be the south side.

²⁰“On the west side, the Great Sea shall be the boundary to a point vopposite Lebo-hamath. This shall be the west side.

²¹g“So you shall divide this land among you according to the tribes of Israel. ²²hYou shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and ifor the sojourners who reside among you and have had children among you. jThey shall be to you as native-born children of Israel. With you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. ²³In whatever tribe the sojourner resides, there you shall assign him his inheritance, declares the Lord God.

Bless the Lord, O My Soul

Of David.

¹yBless the Lord, O my soul,

and all that is within me,

bless his holy name!

²yBless the Lord, O my soul,

and zforget not all his benefits,

³who aforgives all your iniquity,

who bheals all your diseases,

⁴who credeems your life from the pit,

who dcrowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

⁵who esatisfies you with good

so that your youth is renewed like fthe eagle's.

⁶The Lord works grighteousness

and justice for all who are oppressed.

⁷He made known his hways to Moses,

his iacts to the people of Israel.

⁸The Lord is jmerciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

⁹kHe will not always chide,

nor will he lkeep his anger forever.

¹⁰He does not deal with us maccording to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

¹¹For nas high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his osteadfast love toward pthose who fear him;

¹²as far as the east is from the west,

so far does he qremove our transgressions from us.

¹³As ra father shows compassion to his children,

so the Lord shows compassion pto those who fear him.

¹⁴For he knows our frame;1

he sremembers that we are dust.

¹⁵As for man, his days are like tgrass;

he flourishes like ua flower of the field;

¹⁶for vthe wind passes over it, and wit is gone,

and xits place knows it no more.

¹⁷But ythe steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on pthose who fear him,

and his righteousness to zchildren's children,

¹⁸to those who akeep his covenant

and bremember to do his commandments.

¹⁹The Lord has cestablished his throne in the heavens,

and his dkingdom rules over all.

²⁰Bless the Lord, O you ehis angels,

you fmighty ones who gdo his word,

obeying the voice of his word!

²¹Bless the Lord, all his hhosts,

his iministers, who do his will!

²²jBless the Lord, all his works,

in all places of his dominion.

kBless the Lord, O my soul!