Elijah, the Ravens, and the Widow of Zarephath

The prophet Elijah the Tishbite appears before King Ahab: “There shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” At God’s command, he hides by the brook Cherith, east of the Jordan. There, ravens bring him bread and meat morning and evening, and he drinks from the brook. When the brook dries up, God sends him to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a widow. She is gathering sticks to prepare one last meal from a handful of flour and a little oil, “that we may eat it, and die.” Elijah asks her to make him a small cake first, with a promise: the flour and the oil will not run out until the rain returns. She obeys, and the word comes true. Later, her son dies. Elijah carries him to the upper room, stretches himself out over him three times as he prays, and the boy comes back to life.