וַיָּ֣קָם ׀ וַיֵּ֣לֶךְ צָרְפַ֗תָה וַיָּבֹא֙ אֶל־פֶּ֣תַח הָעִ֔יר וְהִנֵּֽה־שָׁ֛ם אִשָּׁ֥ה אַלְמָנָ֖ה מְקֹשֶׁ֣שֶׁת עֵצִ֑ים וַיִּקְרָ֤א אֵלֶ֙יהָ֙ וַיֹּאמַ֔ר קְחִי־נָ֨א לִ֧י מְעַט־מַ֛יִם בַּכְּלִ֖י וְאֶשְׁתֶּֽה׃
So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her, and said: ‘Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.’
On the Unchangeableness of God
[136] We have a parallel to this in the widow in the Book of Kings who discourses with the prophet (1 Kings 17:10). She is a widow, not in our sense of the word, when the wife has lost her husband, but because she is widowed of the passions which corrupt and maltreat the mind, like Tamar in the books of Moses.