Elijah Raises the Widow's Son at Zarephath

Illustration of Elijah Raises the Widow's Son at Zarephath
When a widow's son died, Elijah stretched himself over the boy and cried out to God three times - and the child's life returned.

While staying with a widow in Zarephath during a famine, Elijah watched her only son fall ill and die, and the grieving mother cried out that the prophet had come only to bring her sin to remembrance. Elijah carried the boy to his own room, stretched himself over the child three times, and cried out to the LORD, who heard his prayer and restored the boy's life. It is the first recorded resurrection in Scripture, and it confirmed to the widow that Elijah was truly a man of God whose word was truth - a miracle Jesus himself would later cite as an example of God's grace extended beyond Israel to a Gentile widow.

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Category
Resurrection
Testament
Old Testament
Performed by
Elijah

Key Chapters

1 Kings 17 Elijah Fed by Ravens 4 min read

Key Passages

Elijah Raises the Widow's Son

1 Kings 17:17-24

A17nd it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.

18 And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? 19 And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. 20 And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? 21 And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this childโ€™s soul come into him again. 22 And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth. 24 And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.

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