1 Kings 17:21
New International Version
Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the LORD, “LORD my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”

New Living Translation
And he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, please let this child’s life return to him.”

English Standard Version
Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let this child’s life come into him again.”

Berean Standard Bible
Then he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, please let this boy’s life return to him!”

King James Bible
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 child's soul come into him again.

New King James Version
And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the LORD and said, “O LORD my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him.”

New American Standard Bible
Then he stretched himself out over the boy three times, and called to the LORD and said, “LORD, my God, please, let this boy’s life return to him.”

NASB 1995
Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called to the LORD and said, “O LORD my God, I pray You, let this child’s life return to him.”

NASB 1977
Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called to the LORD, and said, “O LORD my God, I pray Thee, let this child’s life return to him.”

Legacy Standard Bible
Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called to Yahweh and said, “O Yahweh my God, I pray You, let this child’s life return to him.”

Amplified Bible
Then he stretched himself out upon the child three times, and called to the LORD and said, “O LORD my God, please let this child’s life return to him.”

Christian Standard Bible
Then he stretched himself out over the boy three times. He cried out to the LORD and said, “LORD my God, please let this boy’s life come into him again! ”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Then he stretched himself out over the boy three times. He cried out to the LORD and said, “My LORD God, please let this boy’s life return to him!”

American Standard Version
And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto Jehovah, and said, O Jehovah my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And he was stretched out on the boy three times, and he called LORD JEHOVAH and said: “LORD JEHOVAH my God, let the soul of this boy return within him!”

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And he breathed on the child thrice, and called on the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, let, I pray thee, the soul of this child return to him.

Contemporary English Version
Elijah stretched himself out over the boy three times, while praying, "LORD God, bring this boy back to life!"

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he stretched, and measured himself upon the child three times, and cried to the Lord, and said: 0 Lord my God, let the soul of this child, I beseech thee, return into his body.

English Revised Version
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 child's soul come into him again.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Then Elijah stretched himself over the boy three times and called to the LORD, "LORD my God, please make this child's life return to him."

Good News Translation
Then Elijah stretched himself out on the boy three times and prayed, "O LORD my God, restore this child to life!"

International Standard Version
Then he stretched himself three times and cried out to the LORD, "LORD my God, please cause the soul of this little boy to return to him."

JPS Tanakh 1917
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 child's soul come back into him.'

Literal Standard Version
And he stretches himself out on the boy three times, and calls to YHWH and says, “O YHWH my God, please let the soul of this boy return into his midst”;

Majority Standard Bible
Then he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, please let this boy’s life return to him!”

New American Bible
Then he stretched himself out upon the child three times and he called out to the LORD: “LORD, my God, let the life breath return to the body of this child.”

NET Bible
He stretched out over the boy three times and called out to the LORD, "O LORD, my God, please let this boy's breath return to him."

New Revised Standard Version
Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let this child’s life come into him again.”

New Heart English Bible
And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called out to the LORD, and said, "LORD my God, please let this child's soul come into him again."

Webster's Bible Translation
And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried to the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again.

World English Bible
He stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to Yahweh and said, “Yahweh my God, please let this child’s soul come into him again.”

Young's Literal Translation
And he stretcheth himself out on the lad three times, and calleth unto Jehovah, and saith, 'O Jehovah my God, let turn back, I pray Thee, the soul of this lad into his midst;'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Elijah Raises the Widow's Son
20Then he cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have You also brought tragedy on this widow who has opened her home to me, by causing her son to die?” 21Then he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, please let this boy’s life return to him!” 22And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah, and the child’s life returned to him, and he lived.…

Cross References
Acts 20:10
But Paul went down, threw himself on the young man, and embraced him. "Do not be alarmed!" he said. "He is still alive!"

1 Kings 17:20
Then he cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have You also brought tragedy on this widow who has opened her home to me, by causing her son to die?"

2 Kings 4:34
Then Elisha got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eye to eye, and hand to hand. As he stretched himself out over him, the boy's body became warm.

2 Kings 4:35
Elisha turned away and paced back and forth across the room. Then he got on the bed and stretched himself out over the boy again, and the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.


Treasury of Scripture

And he stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray you, let this child's soul come into him again.

2 Kings 4:33-35
He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the LORD…

Acts 10:10
And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,

O Lord my God.

Acts 9:40
But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

Hebrews 11:19
Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

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1 Kings 17
1. Elijah, having prophesied against Ahab,
3. is sent to Cherith where the ravens feed him.
8. He is sent to the widow of Zarephath
17. He raises the widow's son
24. The woman believes him














(21) He stretched himself upon the child.--To suppose that this implies merely the use of some natural means of reviving the dead, is simply to explain the whole description away. The idea in this passage (as in 2Kings 4:34; 2Kings 13:21, and, perhaps, Acts 20:10) clearly is of a certain healing "virtue," attaching in measure to the person of the prophets, as without measure it belonged to our Lord Himself (Luke 8:45-46). But it is to be noted that in the case of the prophet, the power to heal or raise up is made distinctly conditional on prayer, "the Lord heard the voice of Elijah."

Verse 21. -And he stretched himself [marg. measured himself, but Gesenius holds that stretch out is the primary meaning of the root] upon the child [cf. 2 Kings 4:34. The commentators are again at variance as to whether these words imply the use of natural means or not. Those who hold that the child was dead naturally adopt the negative, and some (Keil, Rawlinson, al.) compare with it the action of our Lord in the case of the blind, deaf and dumb (Matthew 9:35; Luke 7:14; John 9:6, 7). But surely the circumstances and the purpose alike, in these latter cases, were entirely different. The object of the touch, of anointing the eyes, etc., in these cases of healing, appears to have been to awaken a sufficient faith - without which "He could do no miracle" (Matthew 13:58) - in men whose infirmities of blindness, deafness, etc., prevented their attaining faith through the ordinary channels of seeing and hearing the merciful and gracious Son of man. But here the child, if not dead, was senseless. We are driven, therefore, to the belief that the prophet "used rational means for warming and revivifying" the child, "not with the hope that of themselves they would prove effectual, but in the sure confidence that God, in answer to his weeping supplication, would impart supernatural force to the natural human agencies," Bahr] three times [Not only in his prayer but also in this triple repetition do we recognize Elijah's profound conviction that only by the Almighty power of God could the child be restored, and that whatever means were used, God alone could make them effectual. For three is the number and signature of the Godheads" die eigentlieh gottliche Zahl, die Signatur des gottlichen Wesens" (Bahr, Symb. 1:143). Hence it is, inter alia, that "the calling upon the name of Jehovah in the old covenant" - he might have added, "and in the new;" cf. Mark 14:39, 41; 2 Corinthians 12:8 - "was a threefold act:" Psalm 55:17; Daniel 6:10, 13; Numbers 6:24-26; Isaiah 6:3 (Bahr). The correspondence with 2 Corinthians 12:8 is very striking] and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray Thee [Heb. now] let this child's soul come into him [Heb. upon his inside עַל is here, as elsewhere, used for אֵל again. [Though נֶפֶשׁ, here translated "soul," constantly means "life," yet it by no means settles the question whether the child was really living or dead. For,

(1) the, primary meaning of the word is breath (Gesen., Thesaurus, s.v.), and

(2) the words might with perfect propriety, even if we interpret "life" or "soul," be used of one who lay in a lifeless and inanimate condition. Massillon's graphic language (vol. 1. p. 91, ed. 1858), showing the contrast between Elijah's procedure and that of our blessed Lord (Luke 7:14; Luke 8:54; John 11:43), is worth citing here: "Elie ressuscite des morts, il est vrai; mais il est oblige de se coucher plusieurs fois sur le corps de l'enfant qu'il ressuscite; il souffle, il se retrecit, it s'agite; on voit bien qu'il invoque une puissance etrangere; qu'il rappelle de l'empire de ta mort une ame qui n'est pas soumise a savoix, et qu'il n'est pas lui-meme le maitre de la mort et de la vie: Jesus-Christ ressuscite les morts comme il fait les actions les plus communes; il parle en maitre a ceux qui dorment d'un sommeil eternel, et l'on sent bien qu'il est le Dieu des morts comme des vivants, jamais plus tranquille que lorsqu'il opere les plus grandes choses."]

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Then he stretched himself out
וַיִּתְמֹדֵ֤ד (way·yiṯ·mō·ḏêḏ)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hitpael - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 4058: To stretch, to measure, to be extended

over
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the child
הַיֶּ֙לֶד֙ (hay·ye·leḏ)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3206: Something born, a lad, offspring

three
שָׁלֹ֣שׁ (šā·lōš)
Number - feminine singular
Strong's 7969: Three, third, thrice

times
פְּעָמִ֔ים (pə·‘ā·mîm)
Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 6471: A beat, foot, anvil, occurrence

and cried out
וַיִּקְרָ֥א (way·yiq·rā)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7121: To call, proclaim, read

to
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

the LORD,
יְהוָ֖ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

“O LORD
יְהוָ֣ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

my God,
אֱלֹהָ֔י (’ĕ·lō·hāy)
Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

please
נָ֛א (nā)
Interjection
Strong's 4994: I pray', 'now', 'then'

let this
הַזֶּ֖ה (haz·zeh)
Article | Pronoun - masculine singular
Strong's 2088: This, that

boy’s
הַיֶּ֥לֶד (hay·ye·leḏ)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3206: Something born, a lad, offspring

life
נֶֽפֶשׁ־ (ne·p̄eš-)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 5315: A soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion

return
תָּ֥שָׁב (tā·šāḇ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect Jussive - third person feminine singular
Strong's 7725: To turn back, in, to retreat, again

to
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

him!”
קִרְבּֽוֹ׃ (qir·bōw)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 7130: The nearest part, the center


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OT History: 1 Kings 17:21 He stretched himself on the child three (1Ki iKi i Ki 1 Kg 1kg)
1 Kings 17:20
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