Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁴¹ Elijah then said to Ahab, “Get up! Celebrate with food and drink because I hear the sound of a rainstorm coming.” ⁴² So Ahab got up to celebrate with food and drink. But Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. He bowed down to the ground and put his face between his knees. ⁴³ He said to his assistant, “Please get up and look toward the sea.”

So the assistant did so. He said, “I don’t see anything.”

Seven times Elijah said, “Do it again.”

⁴⁴ The seventh time the assistant said, “I see a small cloud the size of a human hand coming up from the sea.”

Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Pull yourself together, go down the mountain, and don’t let the rain hold you back.’” ⁴⁵ After a little while, the sky became dark with clouds, and a wind came up with a huge rainstorm. Ahab was already riding on his way to Jezreel, ⁴⁶ but the Lord’s power strengthened Elijah. He gathered up his clothes and ran in front of Ahab until he came to Jezreel.

Demand for a sign

16 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus. In order to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

² But he replied, “At evening you say, ‘It will be nice weather because the sky is bright red.’ ³ And in the morning you say, ‘There will be bad weather today because the sky is cloudy.’ You know how to make sense of the sky’s appearance. But you are unable to recognize the signs that point to what the time is. ⁴ An evil and unfaithful generation searches for a sign. But it won’t receive any sign except Jonah’s sign.” Then he left them and went away.