Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Elijah and the Widow

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to him: ⁹ “Get up, go to Zarephath^(A) that belongs to Sidon and stay there. Look, I have commanded a woman who is a widow to provide for you there.” ¹⁰ So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the city gate, there was a widow woman gathering wood. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup and let me drink.”^{(B) 11} As she went to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.”

¹² But she said, “As the Lord your God lives,^(C) I don’t have anything baked—only a handful of flour in the jar and a bit of oil^(D) in the jug. Just now, I am gathering a couple of sticks in order to go prepare it for myself and my son so we can eat it and die.”^(E)

¹³ Then Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid; go and do as you have said. But first make me a small loaf from it and bring it out to me. Afterward, you may make some for yourself and your son, ¹⁴ for this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘The flour jar will not become empty and the oil jug will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the surface of the land.”^(F)

¹⁵ So she proceeded to do according to the word of Elijah. Then the woman, Elijah, and her household ate for many days.^{(G) 16} The flour jar did not become empty, and the oil jug did not run dry, according to the word of the Lord He had spoken through^[a] Elijah.

Psalm 146

The God of Compassion

²⁴ For the Messiah did not enter a sanctuary made with hands (only a model^[a] of the true one) but into heaven itself, so that He might now appear in the presence of God for us.^{(A) 25} He did not do this to offer Himself many times, as the high priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another.^{(B) 26} Otherwise, He would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared one time, at the end of the ages,^(C) for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of Himself.^{(D) 27} And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment^(E)— ²⁸ so also the Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many,^(F) will appear a second time,^(G) not to bear sin, but^[b] to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.^(H)

Warning against the Scribes

³⁸ He^(A) also said in His teaching, “Beware of the scribes, who want to go around in long robes,^(B) and who want greetings in the marketplaces,^{(C) 39} the front seats^(D) in the synagogues,^(E) and the places of honor^(F) at banquets.^{(G) 40} They devour^(H) widows’^(I) houses and say long prayers^(J) just for show. These will receive harsher punishment.”

The Widow’s Gift

⁴¹ Sitting^(K) across from the temple treasury,^(L) He watched how the crowd dropped money into the treasury. Many rich^(M) people were putting in large sums. ⁴² And a poor^(N) widow came and dropped in two tiny coins worth very little.^{[a] 43} Summoning His disciples,^(O) He said to them, “I assure you:^(P) This poor widow has put in more than all those giving to the temple treasury.^{(Q) 44} For they all gave out of their surplus,^(R) but she out of her poverty^(S) has put in everything she possessed^(T)—all she had to live on.”^(U)