1 Kings 17:9
in 1 Kings 17“Get up and go to Zarephath of Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Sidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain thee.
KJV
Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.
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This verse in 1 Kings 17
Commentary
13 notes on this verseGod sends Elijah to a city of [Gentile] people in order to change his hardness into mercy. He who had given him power over rain and dew did not want to withdraw by force what he had granted him. He wanted, nevertheless, to help the …
This site's exposition
the word of the Lord came unto him, saying
on 1 Kings 17:8-10
When Cherith fails, the word comes a second time and sends Elijah further still, to Zarephath in Sidon itself, inside the territory of Jezebel's own father. Barnes notes Zarephath's dependence on Sidon from the Assyrian inscriptions and suggests the prophet is sent to the one place least likely for Ahab to search. Wesley reads the sequence as provision from an unclean bird and then from a Gentile in turn, and Jesus draws the same widow into his own preaching at Nazareth, naming her against the many widows in Israel in the days of Elias.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
After this, Elijah was commanded to set out for Zarephath of the Sidonians, in order that he might be fed there by a widow. Thus, the Lord spoke to him, "Go to Zarephath of the Sidonians: I have commanded a widow there to feed you." How and by whom did God command the widow, since there was almost no other prophet at that time except blessed Elijah, with whom God spoke quite plainly? Although the sons of some of the prophets lived at that time, they feared the persecution of Jezebel so much that they could scarcely escape even when hidden. "I have commanded a widow," said the Lord. How does the Lord command, except by inspiring what is good through his grace within a soul? Thus, God speaks within every person who performs a good work, and for this reason no one should glory in himself but in the Lord. Were there not many widows in Judea at that time? Why was it that no Jewish widow merited to offer food to blessed Elijah, and he was sent to a Gentile woman to be fed? That widow to whom the prophet was sent typified the church, just as the ravens that ministered to Elijah prefigured the Gentiles. Thus, Elijah came to the widow because Christ was to come to the church.
After this, Elijah was commanded to set out for Zarephath of the Sidonians, in order that he might be fed there by a widow. Thus, the Lord spoke to him, "Go to Zarephath of the Sidonians: I have commanded a widow there to feed you." …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Zidon - To the jurisdiction of that city, which was inhabited by Gentiles. And God's providing for his prophet, first, by an unclean bird, and then by a Gentile, whom the Jews esteemed unclean, was a presage of the calling of the Gentiles, and rejection of the Jews. So Elijah was the first prophet of the Gentiles.
Elijah was hated and driven out by his countrymen; therefore, lo, he turns to the Gentiles, as the apostles were afterwards ordered to do, Acts xviii. But why to a city of Sidon? Perhaps because the worship of Baal, which was now the crying sin of Israel, came lately thence with Jezebel, who was a Sidonian ( ch. xvi.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there,....
6 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century6 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The dependence of Zarephath (Sarepta) on Sidon is indicated in the inscriptions of Sennacherib, where it is mentioned as belonging to Luliya (Elulaeus), king of Sidon, and as submitting to the Assyrian monarch on Luliya’s flight from his capital. Elijah may have been sent to this place, so near the city of Jezebel’s father, as one which it was most unlikely that he would visit.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The prophet was sent to this widow, not merely for his own security, but on account of her faith, to strengthen and promote which he was directed to go to her rather than to many widows in Israel, who would have eagerly received him on the same privileged terms of exception from the grinding famine.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Meeting, at his entrance into the town, the very woman who was appointed by divine providence to support him, his faith was severely tested by learning from her that her supplies were exhausted and that she was preparing her last meal for herself and son.
THE Prophets taught as much by their doings as by their sayings—they were as truly prophesying to the people by the miracles which they worked, as by the messages which they delivered. There was oftentimes a symbolic meaning in their actions, in fact, they were constantly teaching the people by outward symbols, which, alas, those people were usually of too dull an understanding to interpret, but which, nevertheless, were a sign unto them. In the case of Elijah, a Prophet of laconic speech who said but little, but said that with a voice of thunder, I do not doubt that the narratives connected with his life are meant to be to us a kind of acted prophesying, full of richest meaning. Let us see what we can gather, this morning, from the inexhaustible barrel and unfailing cruse of the widow of Sarepta. I know not how it is that I feel bound in spirit to preach upon this incident this morning, but this widow seems to have followed me for the last two or three days with all the importunity of the widow in the parable who would take no denial! And I trust that there may be some here for whom I bear, under sacred constraint, a message from the Lord. Grant it so, blessed Spirit, and we will praise Your name! I. Our first observation will be, this morning, that the case of this woman of Sarepta is an instance of DIVINE ELECTION. We are not now inventing anything of our own.
THE Prophets taught as much by their doings as by their sayings—they were as truly prophesying to the people by the miracles which they worked, as by the messages which they delivered. There was oftentimes a symbolic meaning in their actions, in fact, they were constantly teaching the people by outward symbols, which, alas, those people were usually of too dull an understanding to interpret, but which, nevertheless, were a sign unto them.
Get thee to Zarephath - This was a town between Tyre and Sidon, but nearer to the latter, and is therefore called in the text Zarephath which belongeth to Sidon; or, as the Vulgate and other versions express it, Sarepta of the Sidonians. Sarepta is the name by which it goes in the New Testament; but its present name is Sarphan. Mr. Maundrell, who visited it, describes it as consisting of a few houses only on the tops of the mountains; but supposes that it anciently stood in the plain below, where there are still ruins of a considerable extent.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Please bring me a little water. He was unable to identify the widow. According to the Midrash, this widow was the mother of Yonah the son of Amitai, the prophet.—Radak about whom the Holy One Blessed Is He, had told him.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ק֣וּם | kum | arise | H6965 → | 628 times |
| לֵ֤ךְ | lekh | go | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| צָרְפַ֙תָה֙ | tzarefatah | Zarephath towards | H6886 → | |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| לְצִיד֔וֹן | letzidon | [belongs] to Sidon | H6721 → | |
| וְיָשַׁבְתָּ֖ | veyashavta | and you will dwell | H3427 → | 1079 times |
| שָׁ֑ם | sham | there | H8033 → | 834 times |
| הִנֵּ֨ה | hineh | here! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| צִוִּ֥יתִי | tziviti | I have commanded | H6680 → | 494 times |
| שָׁ֛ם | sham | there | H8033 → | 834 times |
| אִשָּׁ֥ה | ʾishah | a woman | H802 → | 781 times |
| אַלְמָנָ֖ה | ʾalmanah | a widow | H490 → | 56 times |
| לְכַלְכְּלֶֽךָ׃ | lekhalkelekha | to supply you | H3557 → | 38 times |
ק֣וּםarise
kumH6965 →628 times
לֵ֤ךְgo
lekhH1980 →1546 times
צָרְפַ֙תָה֙Zarephath towards
tzarefatahH6886 →
אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
לְצִיד֔וֹן[belongs] to Sidon
letzidonH6721 →
וְיָשַׁבְתָּ֖and you will dwell
veyashavtaH3427 →1079 times
שָׁ֑םthere
shamH8033 →834 times
הִנֵּ֨הhere!
hinehH2009 →843 times
צִוִּ֥יתִיI have commanded
tzivitiH6680 →494 times
שָׁ֛םthere
shamH8033 →834 times
אִשָּׁ֥הa woman
ʾishahH802 →781 times
אַלְמָנָ֖הa widow
ʾalmanahH490 →56 times
לְכַלְכְּלֶֽךָ׃to supply you
lekhalkelekhaH3557 →38 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 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
2 Corinthians 4:7Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us.
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 3:5–6
Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God.
- 2 Corinthians 5:1
Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
- Ephesians 2:8–9
For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God,
- 1 Corinthians 1:28
He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are,
- Colossians 2:3
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
- 2 Corinthians 3:5–6
Through
1 Kings 17:4And you are to drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
it leads to
- Psalms 147:9
He provides food for the animals, and for the young ravens when they call.
- Job 38:41
Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?
- Matthew 4:4
But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
- Psalms 147:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About 1 Kings
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 124.2; Caesarius of Arles, Commentary (church-history corpus); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 817: “The Widow of Sarepta” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS 17:2; 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 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.