1 Kings 17:1 Explained in Context

Selected verse

Verse 1. And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Quick Meaning

This verse opens the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech: “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Elijah announces drought and is fed at Cherith.”

Elijah tells Ahab that dew and rain now wait on the LORD's word

This verse is one part of that explanation in 1 Kings 17:1–7. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.

Read It With

1 Kings 17:1–7

Read 1 Kings 17:1 with 17:1–7. The selected wording supplies one opening in the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Introduces Elijah announcing to Ahab a divinely controlled absence of dew and rain; lets the drought reach Elijah when the brook dries up.

Why This Verse Appears Here

Within “Elijah announces drought and is fed at Cherith,” 1 Kings 17:1 opens the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech through the wording “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: Elijah's drought word confronts the Ahab-Baal setting just established and moves the conflict from royal worship policy to land, weather, food, and survival.

Read 1 Kings 17:1–7 together

Why these verses belong together: Elijah announces drought and is fed at Cherith is the complete reviewed scene, prayer, oracle, list, or regnal notice bounded at 17:1–17:7.

Verse 2. And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,

Verse 3. Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.

Verse 4. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.

Verse 5. So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.

Verse 6. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.

Verse 7. And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

Follow the Context

Introduces Elijah announcing to Ahab a divinely controlled absence of dew and rain
Lets the drought reach Elijah when the brook dries up

What This Verse Is Not Saying

1 Kings 17:1 does not permit the wording “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God…” to be read apart from the selected verse's context. The unit does not make national success a covenant entitlement, blame sufferers for disaster, erase the foreigner or captive, or turn prayer toward the temple into control of God.

What Remains True

Faithful care keeps bodily need, grief, danger, agency, and honest uncertainty visible rather than converting suffering into blame or a promised formula. This unit tests that truth through introduces Elijah announcing to Ahab a divinely controlled absence of dew and rain; lets the drought reach Elijah when the brook dries up. In 1 Kings 17:1, the concrete line “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.

Teach It Back

In 70–220 words, explain 1 Kings 17:1's role in 17:1–7. Paraphrase “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God…,” identify one agent or affected person, state one material source or historical limit, and name one conclusion the context does not authorize.

Explain the verse in context

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Continue in Context

Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.

Read 1 Kings 17:1–7 — Elijah announces drought and is fed at Cherith

Sources used for this Verse Lens

How certain is this explanation? probable

These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.

Exact location: 1 Kings 17:1–7, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus

Open source ↗

hebrew text and morphology

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Kings

Open Scriptures

Open Scriptures, release 2.2

Supports: Hebrew wording and morphology used for lexical, grammatical, name, clause, and older-English checks; this is not a critical apparatus or historical proof.

Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 17:1–7

Open source ↗

translation and translator notes

NET Bible: 1 Kings with translators' notes

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, 2006

Supports: Only printed unit-level translation, lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and verse-numbering notes; silence is not evidence.

Exact location: NET Bible 1 Kings PDF, printed pp. 618–619, translation and translator notes for 17:1–7

Open source ↗

Open the complete thought-unit research record