ZAREPHATH zăr’ ə făth (צָ֣רְפַ֔ת; LXX Σαρέπτα, meaning related to the Akkad. verb ṩarapu “to dye”), represented today by the Arab village Sarafand on the promontory some m. S of Sidon. Near the village lie remains of an ancient town. Zarephath is mentioned in an Egyp. papyrus of the 14th cent. b.c. as Dr pt. It was captured in 701 b.c. by Sennacherib (q.v.) who referred to it as Ṩariptu. It belonged at one stage to Sidon (1 Kings 17:9), but was transferred to Tyre in 722 b.c. after Shalmaneser IV and his Sidonian ships failed to take Tyre. In antiquity it was famous for fine glassware and its name suggests that it produced dye like other Phoen. towns. Elijah was sent here by God during a famine and was cared for by a widow whose jar of meal and cruse of oil did not fail (1 Kings 17:8-24: Luke 4:26). In Obadiah 20 it is mentioned as a part of Phoenicia and in Luke 4:26 it is again called a city of Sidon.

Bibliography F. M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine (1938), 449.