Elijah Predicts Drought

17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of ^[a](A)the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “^(B)As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, ^(C)there shall certainly be neither dew nor rain during these years, except by my word.” ² Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ³ “Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is ^[b]east of the Jordan. ⁴ And it shall be that you will drink from the brook, and ^(D)I have commanded the ravens to provide food for you there.” ⁵ So he went and did everything according to the word of the Lord, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is ^[c]east of the Jordan. ⁶ And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. ⁷ But it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ⁹ “Arise, go to ^(E)Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, ^(F)I have commanded a widow there to provide food for you.” ¹⁰ So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the entrance of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and ^(G)he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a ^[d]cup, so that I may drink.” ¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” ¹² But she said, “^(H)As the Lord your God lives, ^(I)I have no food, only a handful of flour in the ^[e]bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering ^[f]a few sticks so that I may go in and prepare it for me and my son, so that we may ^[g]eat it and ^(J)die.” ¹³ However, Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said. Just make me a little bread loaf from ^[h]it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. ¹⁴ For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘The ^[i]bowl of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil become empty, until the day that the Lord provides rain on the face of the earth.’” ¹⁵ So she went and did everything in accordance with the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. ¹⁶ The ^[j]bowl of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil become empty, in accordance with the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah.

Elijah Raises the Widow’s Son

¹⁷ Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his ^[k]condition became very grave, until at the end ^[l]he was no longer breathing. ¹⁸ So she said to Elijah, “^[m](K)Why is my business any of yours, you ^(L)man of God? Yet you have come to me to bring my wrongdoing to remembrance, and to put my son to death!” ¹⁹ But he said to her, “Give me your son.” Then he took him from her ^[n]arms and carried him up to the upstairs room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed. ²⁰ And he called to the Lord and said, “Lord, my God, have You also brought catastrophe upon the widow with whom I am ^[o]staying, by causing her son to die?” ^21 (M)Then he stretched himself out over the boy three times, and called to the Lord and said, “Lord, my God, please, let this boy’s life return ^[p]to him.” ²² And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah, ^(N)and the life of the boy returned ^[q]to him and he revived. ²³ Elijah then took the boy and brought him down from the upstairs room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” ²⁴ Then the woman said to Elijah, “^(O)Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

6 ^(A)Now it happened that ^[a]Jesus was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath, and His disciples ^(B)were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. ² But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what ^(C)is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ³ And Jesus, answering them, said, “Have you not even read ^(D)what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him, ⁴ how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the ^[b]consecrated bread, which ^(E)is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?” ⁵ And He was saying to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

^6 (F)On another Sabbath He entered ^(G)the synagogue and taught; and a man was there ^[c]whose right hand was withered. ⁷ Now the scribes and the Pharisees ^(H)were watching Him ^[d]closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse Him. ⁸ But He ^(I)knew ^[e]what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and ^[f]come forward!” And he got up and ^[g]came forward. ⁹ And Jesus said to them, “I ask you whether it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to destroy it?” ¹⁰ And after ^(J)looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so; and his hand was restored. ¹¹ But they themselves were filled with senseless rage, and began discussing together what they might do to Jesus.

Choosing the Twelve

¹² Now it was ^[h]at this time that He went off to ^(K)the mountain to ^(L)pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer with God. ¹³ And when day came, ^(M)He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as ^(N)apostles: ¹⁴ Simon, whom He also named Peter, and his brother Andrew; and ^[i]James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; ¹⁵ and ^(O)Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot; ¹⁶ Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

¹⁷ And then Jesus ^(P)came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was ^(Q)a large crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the coastal region of ^(R)Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸ who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled by unclean spirits were being cured. ¹⁹ And all the ^[j]people were trying to ^(S)touch Him, because ^(T)power was coming from Him and healing them all.