After a time the wadi dried up because there was no rain in the country.
Yahweh’s word came to him: ‘Set off, go to Tsarephat which belongs to Tsidon and stay there. Here, I have ordered a woman there who is a widow to provide for you.’
He set off and went to Tsarephat, and came to the entrance to the town. There, a woman who was a widow was gathering wood there. He called to her, ‘Please get me a little water in a container so I can drink’, and she went to get it. He called to her, ‘Please get me a bit of bread in your hand.’ She said, ‘As Yahweh your God lives, if I have anything baked, only a fistful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug . . . So here I am, collecting a couple of pieces of wood and I shall come and make it for me and for my son, and we’ll eat it and die.’
Eliyyahu said to her, ‘Don’t be afraid. Come, act in accordance with your word, only make me a small loaf from there first and bring it out to me, and make one for you and for your son afterwards. Because Yahweh the God of Yisra’el has said this: “The jar of flour will not be finished and the jug of oil will not lack until the day Yahweh gives rain on the face of the ground.”’ She went and acted in accordance with Eliyyahu’s word, and she ate, she and he and her household for some time. The jar of flour was not finished and the jug of oil did not lack, in accordance with Yahweh’s word which he spoke by means of Eliyyahu.
Goldingay, John; The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.
Teach us, good Lord,
to serve thee as thou deservest;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
St Ignatius