Then the Word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying, "Turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan."
God did not forget His faithful servant in the famine that was coming; and He told him He had commanded the ravens to feed him, and that he would be able to drink of the brook.
Here, amidst the rocks and fastnesses, he was safe from the wrath of Ahab and of Jezebel, Ahab's wife, who hated Elijah with all her heart.
And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank of the brook.
But when the hot days came the brook began to grow less and less, because there had been no rain, and at last the brook dried up; and then the Word of the Lord came to him again: "Arise and go to Zarephath, near Sidon: I have commanded a widow woman to feed thee there."
So Elijah went the long journey to Zarephath, and just outside the gate he saw a woman gathering sticks; and, too thirsty to wait till he reached her side, he called to her: "Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water to drink!"
And as she was going to fetch it, he called again: "And bring me a morsel of bread in thine hand!"
But she quickly answered: "I have not any bread! I have nothing but a little meal in the bottom of the barrel, and a little oil in a cruse; and I was gathering a few sticks to bake a little loaf for me and my son, that we may eat it and die!"
The famine was so bad in the land that this was the last bread that poor widow would be able to get.
But God knew all about it, and He had arranged it all in His loving way.