⁹ “Go at once to Zarephath^(A) in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow^(B) there to supply you with food.”

²⁶ Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.^(A)

⁴ You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens^(A) to supply you with food there.”

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay^(A) to show that this all-surpassing power is from God^(B) and not from us.

¹⁷ As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”^[a](A) He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life^(B) to the dead and calls^(C) into being things that were not.^(D)

¹⁸ Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations,^(E) just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”^{[b](F) 19} Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead^(G)—since he was about a hundred years old^(H)—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.^{(I) 20} Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened^(J) in his faith and gave glory to God,^{(K) 21} being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.^(L)

The Faith of a Canaanite Woman^(A)

²¹ Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.^{(B) 22} A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David,^(C) have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”^(D)

⁴ But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many^(A) men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

² The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength^(A) has saved me.’