1 Kings 17:6
in 1 Kings 17The ravens would bring him bread and meat in the morning and evening, and he would drink from the brook.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.
KJV
And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.
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This verse in 1 Kings 17
Commentary
13 notes on this verseTherefore do not boast when you fast, do not glory lest fasting profit you nothing; for those things that are done for ostentation will not prolong their fruit into the future, but they consume the reward for present deeds. Elijah was in the desert that no one might see him fast except the ravens alone, when they supplied him with food. Elisha was in the desert where no food except poisonous wild gourds could be found. John was in the desert, where he could find only locusts and wild honey.
This site's exposition
did according unto the word of the Lord
on 1 Kings 17:5-7
Elijah obeys at once and settles by the brook until it fails after a while, at the end of days, Wesley notes, meaning a year, the season a severe drought would need to dry a perennial stream. Clarke ties the drought itself to the curse Deuteronomy attached to a land that turns after other gods, that the Lord's wrath be kindled and he shut up the heaven. The drying brook lays a second trial on the first, teaching the prophet who called the drought to depend on the God who sent it rather than on the brook itself.
This site's exposition
bread and meat in the morning
Adam Clarke notes that the Greek Codex Vaticanus has the ravens bring bread each morning and meat each evening. Israel received meat at twilight and bread in the morning at Exodus 16:12. Ambrose of Milan saw Elijah hidden from all but ravens.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
Blessed Elijah typified our Lord and Savior. Just as Elijah suffered persecution by the Jews, so our Lord, the true Elijah, was condemned and despised by the Jews. Elijah left his own people, and Christ deserted the synagogue; Elijah departed into the wilderness, and Christ …
"The ravens brought him bread in the morning and meat in the evening." The bread represents perfection and justice accomplished together. This is the bread about which Isaiah says that it is given to those "who will live on the heights, and whose refuge will …
A commentator
Philoxenus of Mabbug13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 -- On Abstinence · Written before 523.
proposed
It was because they lusted that they were condemned and not because they ate flesh, for behold Elijah did not ask for food with lust, but the ravens fed him with bread and flesh, evening and morning, and he drank water from the brook; and …
Blessed Elijah typified our Lord and Savior. Just as Elijah suffered persecution by the Jews, so our Lord, the true Elijah, was condemned and despised by the Jews. Elijah left his own people, and Christ deserted the synagogue; Elijah departed into the wilderness, and Christ came into the world. Elijah was fed in the desert by ministering ravens, while Christ was refreshed in the desert of this world by the faith of the Gentiles. Truly, those ravens that took care of blessed Elijah at the Lord's bidding prefigured the Gentiles, for on this account it is said concerning the church of the Gentiles, "I am dark and beautiful, O daughter of Jerusalem." Why is the church dark and beautiful? It is dark by nature, beautiful by grace. Why dark? "Indeed, in guilt I was born, and in sin my mother conceived me." Why beautiful? "Cleanse me of sin with hyssop, that I may be purified; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Why dark? The apostle says, "I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and making me prisoner to the law of sin." Why beautiful? "Who will deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Truly, the church of the Gentiles was like a raven, when it despised the living and before receiving grace served idols as dead bodies.
The Medieval Church1 voice
It is taught: When the priests, his brothers, saw that he had escaped the anger of Ahab, they saved for him a part of the food and bread reserved [to them], and a raven brought it to him through divine intervention.The Schools say, A raven …
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
15 ), yet Elijah did not think the meat they brought ever the worse for that, but ate and gave thanks, asking no question for conscience' sake. Noah's dove was to him a more faithful messenger than his raven; yet here the ravens are faithful and constant to Elijah. [3.] Ravens feed on insects and carrion themselves, yet they brought the prophet man's meat and wholesome food.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens
And flesh - Not raw, but boiled by the ministry of some angel or man, and left in some place 'till the ravens came for it: in all which, there is nothing incredible, considering the power and providence of God.
And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
And the ravens brought him bread and flesh - The Septuagint, in the Codex Vaticanus, and some ancient fathers, read the passage thus: - Και οἱ κορακες εφερον αυτῳ αρτους το πρωΐ, και κρεα το δειλης, And the crows brought him bread in the morning, and flesh in the evening: but all the other versions agree with the Hebrew text.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
But the common rendering is, in our opinion, preferable to these conjectures. And, if Elijah was miraculously fed by ravens, it is idle to inquire where they found the bread and the flesh, for God would direct them. After the lapse of a year, the brook dried up, and this was a new trial to Elijah's faith.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהָעֹרְבִ֗ים | vehaorevim | and the ravens | H6158 → | |
| מְבִיאִ֨ים | meviim | [were] bringing | H935 → | 2568 times |
| ל֜וֹ | lo | to him | ||
| לֶ֤חֶם | lechem | bread | H3899 → | 298 times |
| וּבָשָׂר֙ | uvasar | and meat | H1320 → | 270 times |
| בַּבֹּ֔קֶר | baboker | in the morning | H1242 → | 214 times |
| וְלֶ֥חֶם | velechem | and bread | H3899 → | 298 times |
| וּבָשָׂ֖ר | uvasar | and meat | H1320 → | 270 times |
| בָּעָ֑רֶב | baarev | in the evening | H6153 → | |
| וּמִן־ | umin- | and from | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| הַנַּ֖חַל | hanachal | the wadi | H5158 → | 141 times |
| יִשְׁתֶּֽה׃ | yishteh | he drank | H8354 → | 217 times |
וְהָעֹרְבִ֗יםand the ravens
vehaorevimH6158 →
מְבִיאִ֨ים[were] bringing
meviimH935 →2568 times
ל֜וֹto him
lo
לֶ֤חֶםbread
lechemH3899 →298 times
וּבָשָׂר֙and meat
uvasarH1320 →270 times
בַּבֹּ֔קֶרin the morning
babokerH1242 →214 times
וְלֶ֥חֶםand bread
velechemH3899 →298 times
וּבָשָׂ֖רand meat
uvasarH1320 →270 times
בָּעָ֑רֶבin the evening
baarevH6153 →
וּמִן־and from
umin-H4480 →1188 times
הַנַּ֖חַלthe wadi
hanachalH5158 →141 times
יִשְׁתֶּֽה׃he drank
yishtehH8354 →217 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 37:21So King Zedekiah gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread daily from the street of the bakers, until all the bread in…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 38:28
And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.
- Jeremiah 38:13
and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.
- Jeremiah 52:6
By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.
- Jeremiah 32:2
At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard, which was in the palace of the king of…
- Jeremiah 38:9
“My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have dropped him into the cistern, where he will starve to death, for there…
- Jeremiah 38:28
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About 1 Kings
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, On Elijah and Fasting, Chapter 11, 40; Ambrose of Milan, Concerning Virginity 2.5.38; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 124.1; Caesarius of Arles, Commentary (church-history corpus); Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS 17:2; Ishodad of Merv, BOOKS OF SESSIONS 1 KINGS 17:6; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 -- On Abstinence.