Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

The NET Bible®

1 Kings 17:4

Drink from the stream; I have already told the ravens to bring you food there."

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Blessing;   Cherith;   Elijah;   Minister, Christian;   Raven;   Readings, Select;   Thompson Chain Reference - Bible Stories for Children;   Birds;   Children;   Direction, Divine;   Divine;   Guidance, Divine;   Home;   Pleasant Sunday Afternoons;   Ravens;   Religion;   Stories for Children;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Famine;   Raven, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Cherith;   Elijah;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Raven;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Achan;   Raven;   Shalman;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Birds;   Kings, 1 and 2;   Zarephath;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Ahab;   Haggai;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Raven;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Elijah;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Raven;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Bird;   Raven;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Ravels;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Kingdom of Israel;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Elijah;   Raven;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
You are to drink from the wadi. I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.”
Hebrew Names Version
It shall be, that you shall drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.
King James Version
And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
English Standard Version
You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there."
New Century Version
You may drink from the stream, and I have commanded ravens to bring you food there."
Amplified Bible
"You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to sustain you there [with food]."
New American Standard Bible
"And it shall be that you will drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide food for you there."
Geneva Bible (1587)
And thou shalt drinke of the riuer: and I haue comanded the rauens to feede thee there.
Legacy Standard Bible
And it will be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to sustain you there."
Contemporary English Version
You can drink water from the creek, and eat the food I've told the ravens to bring you."
Complete Jewish Bible
You are to drink from the stream, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there."
Darby Translation
And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the torrent; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
Easy-to-Read Version
You can get your water from that stream, and I have commanded ravens to bring food to you there."
George Lamsa Translation
And you shall drink from the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.
Good News Translation
The brook will supply you with water to drink, and I have commanded ravens to bring you food there."
Lexham English Bible
It shall be that you shall drink from the wadi, and I have commanded the crows to sustain you there."
Literal Translation
And it shall be, you shall drink of the torrent; and I shall command the ravens to feed you there.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and thou shalt drynke of the ryuer: and I haue commaunded the rauens, that they shal fede the there.
American Standard Version
And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
Bible in Basic English
The water of the stream will be your drink, and by my orders the ravens will give you food there.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thou shalt drinke of the ryuer, and I haue commaunded the rauens to feede thee there.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.'
King James Version (1611)
And it shall bee, that thou shalt drinke of the brooke, and I haue commanded the rauens to feed thee there.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And it shall be that thou shalt drink water of the brook, and I will charge the ravens to feed thee there.
English Revised Version
And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
Berean Standard Bible
And you are to drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there."
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and there thou schalt drynke of the stronde; and Y comaundide to crowis, that thei feede thee there.
Young's Literal Translation
and it hath been, from the brook thou dost drink, and the ravens I have commanded to sustain thee there.'
Update Bible Version
And it shall be, that you shall drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.
Webster's Bible Translation
And it shall be, [that] thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
World English Bible
It shall be, that you shall drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.
New King James Version
And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there."
New Living Translation
Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food."
New Life Bible
You will drink from the river. And I have told the ravens to bring food to you there."
New Revised Standard
You shall drink from the wadi, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and it shall be that, of the torrent, shalt thou drink, - and, the ravens, have I commanded to sustain thee, there.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And there thou shalt drink of the torrent: and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
Revised Standard Version
You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there."
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there."

Contextual Overview

1 Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As certainly as the Lord God of Israel lives (whom I serve), there will be no dew or rain in the years ahead unless I give the command." 2 The Lord told him: 3 "Leave here and travel eastward. Hide out in the Kerith Valley near the Jordan. 4 Drink from the stream; I have already told the ravens to bring you food there." 5 So he did as the Lord told him; he went and lived in the Kerith Valley near the Jordan. 6 The ravens would bring him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he would drink from the stream. 7 After a while, the stream dried up because there had been no rain in the land.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I have commanded: 1 Kings 17:9, 1 Kings 19:5-8, Numbers 20:8, Job 34:29, Job 38:8-13, Job 38:41, Psalms 33:8, Psalms 33:9, Psalms 147:9, Amos 9:3, Amos 9:4, Matthew 4:4, Matthew 4:11

Reciprocal: Genesis 8:7 - a raven Leviticus 11:15 - General 1 Kings 13:28 - the lion had 1 Kings 17:14 - The barrel of meal Jeremiah 37:21 - and that Matthew 6:34 - for Matthew 17:27 - and take Revelation 2:20 - that woman

Cross-References

Genesis 12:2
Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you will exemplify divine blessing.
Genesis 13:16
And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants also can be counted.
Genesis 16:10
I will greatly multiply your descendants," the Lord 's angel added, "so that they will be too numerous to count."
Genesis 17:1
When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am the sovereign God. Walk before me and be blameless.
Genesis 17:11
You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins. This will be a reminder of the covenant between me and you.
Genesis 17:18
Abraham said to God, "O that Ishmael might live before you!"
Genesis 22:17
I will indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be as countless as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the strongholds of their enemies.
Genesis 32:12
But you said, ‘I will certainly make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand on the seashore, too numerous to count.'"
Genesis 35:11
Then God said to him, "I am the sovereign God. Be fruitful and multiply! A nation—even a company of nations—will descend from you; kings will be among your descendants!
Genesis 48:19
But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He too will become a nation and he too will become great. In spite of this, his younger brother will be even greater and his descendants will become a multitude of nations."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook,.... The water of that was to be his drink:

and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there; whereby he should be provided with food to eat; by whom are meant not angels in the form of ravens, as some; nor, as others, Arabians, for there were none of that people near him; nor, as others, merchants, the word being sometimes used of them, for this was not a likely method for privacy; nor, as others, the inhabitants of a place called Oreb, or Orbo; so the Arabic version calls them Orabimi; but we read of no such place near Jordan; the Jews s speak of a city of this name near Bethshean, from whence these Orebim came; and some of them t think they had their name from Oreb, in Judges 7:25 it seems better to interpret them of ravens, as we do, these creatures delighting to be in solitary places, in valleys, and by brooks; nor need it be any objection that they were unclean creatures by the law, since Elijah did not feed upon them, but was fed by them; and supposing any uncleanness by touch, the ceremonial law might be dispensed with in an extraordinary case, as it sometimes was; though it is very remarkable that such creatures should be employed in this way, which are birds of prey, seize on anything they can, live on carrion, and neglect their own young, and yet feed a prophet of the Lord; which shows the power and providence of God in it. Something like this Jerom u relates, of a raven bringing a whole loaf of bread, and laying it before the saints, Paulus and Antonius.

s Bereshit Rabba, sect. 33. fol. 29. 1. t T. Bab. Cholin. fol. 5. 1. Menasseh Ben Israel Conciliat. in Lev. quaest. 3. u In Vita Paul Erem. fol. 82. C.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The ravens - This is the translation of most of the ancient versions; others, omitting the points, which are generally allowed to have no authority, read “Arabians;” others, retaining the present pointing, translate either “merchants” (compare the original of Ezekiel 27:9, Ezekiel 27:27), or “Orbites.” Jerome took it in this last sense, and so does the Arabic Version.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 17:4. I have commanded the ravens to feed thee — Thou shalt not lack the necessaries of life; thou shalt be supplied by an especial providence. See more on this subject at the end of the chapter. 1 Kings 17:24.


 
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