1. Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab: “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, during these years there shall be no dew or rain except at my word.”
2. The word of the Lord came to Elijah:
3. Leave here, go east and hide in the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan.
4. You shall drink of the wadi, and I have commanded ravens to feed you there.
5. So he left and did as the Lord had commanded. He left and remained by the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan.
6. Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the wadi.
7. After some time, however, the wadi ran dry, because no rain had fallen in the land.
8. So the word of the Lord came to him:
9. Arise, go to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow there to feed you.
10. He arose and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the entrance of the city, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called out to her, “Please bring me a small cupful of water to drink.”
11. She left to get it, and he called out after her, “Please bring along a crust of bread.”
12. She said, “As the Lord, your God, lives, I have nothing baked; there is only a handful of flour in my jar and a little oil in my jug. Just now I was collecting a few sticks, to go in and prepare something for myself and my son; when we have eaten it, we shall die.”