1 Kings 17:21
And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again. And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again.
This prayer was offered while Elijah was taking refuge in a heathen land at Zarephath belonging to Zidon, in the home of a widow God had commanded to sustain him when there was no safety for him in Israel after the brook Cherith dried up. The widow was not an Israelite and had never had the privileges and blessings of the chosen people, but she believed in the true God and walked in all the light shining on her pathway. The account belongs to Elijah's work in the northern kingdom that leads to his stern confrontation with King Ahab, in which he declares that Ahab and his father's house have troubled Israel. Elijah took the widow's dead son from her bosom up into the loft where he stayed and laid him on his own bed.
He stretched himself upon the dead child three times while crying out to the Lord and praying for the child's soul and life to come into him again. The Lord heard Elijah's voice and prayer and caused the child's soul and life to return into him again, so that he revived. Elijah then brought the child down out of the chamber and delivered him alive to his mother. The restoration convinced the widow that Elijah is a man of God and that the word of the Lord in his mouth is truth. The preservation and raising of the son's life came in return for the widow of Zarephath sharing her morsel with Elijah, and it is God's promised great blessing to all who in time of trial and want give sympathy and assistance to others more needy, proving His power is no less now than in the days of Elijah.