But after some time the torrent was dried up, for it had not rained upon the earth.

And it came to pass after a while that the torrent dried up, for there had been no rain in the land.

And it cometh to pass, at the end of days, that the brook drieth up, for there hath been no rain in the land,

Now after a time the stream became dry, because there was no rain in the land.

And it happened after a while that the wadi dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

But after some days, the torrent dried up. For it had not rained upon the earth.

The brook dried up - Because there had been no rain in the land for some time, God having sent this drought as a testimony against the idolatry of the people: see Deuteronomy 11:16, Deuteronomy 11:17.

And it came to pass after a while,.... Or "at the end of days" (x), perhaps a year, which sometimes is the sense of this phrase, see Exodus 13:10,
that the brook dried up; through the excessive heat, and for want of supplies from the springs and fountains with which it was fed, and for the following reason:
because there had been no rain in the land; from the time Elijah prayed and prophesied; of this drought mention is made in profane history: Menander, a Phoenician writer, speaks (y) of a drought in the times of Ithobalus (the same with Ethbaal the father of Jezebel), which lasted a whole year, and upon prayer being made there were thunder, &c.
(x) "in, vel a, fine dierum", Pagninus, Montanus, &c. (y) Apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 8. c. 13. sect. 2.

After some time this brook dried up for want of rain. Then the Lord directed His servant to go to the Sidonian Zarephath, and to live with a widow whom He had commanded to provide for him. ימים מקּץ does not mean post annum, for ימים merely derives this meaning in certain passages from the context (cf. Leviticus 25:29; 1-Samuel 27:7; Judges 17:10); whereas in this instance the context does not point to the space of a year, but to a longer period of indefinite duration, all that we know being that, according to 1-Kings 18:1, the sojourn of Elijah at Cherith and Zarephath lasted at least two years. Zarephath (Σαρέπτα, lxx) was situated on the Mediterranean Sea between Tyre and Sidon, where a miserable Mohammedan village with ruins and a promontory, Surafend, still preserve the name of the former town (Rob. iii. p. 413ff., and V. de Velde, Syria and Palestine, i. pp. 101-3, transl.).

A while - Hebrews. at the end of days; that is, of a year; for so the word days is often used. Dried - God so ordering it, for the punishment of those Israelites who lived near it, and had hitherto been refreshed by it: and for the exercise of Elijah's faith, and to teach him to depend upon God alone.