Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁸ The word of the Lord came to him, saying, ⁹ “Arise and go to Zarephath^[a] which belongs to Sidon and live there. I have commanded a woman there who is a widow to take care of you.”

¹⁰ So he arose and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the gate to the city, there was a woman there who was a widow. She was gathering sticks, and he called out to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a jar so that I can have something to drink.”

¹¹ As she went to get it for him, he called out to her and said, “Please also bring me a bit of bread in your hand.” ¹² But she said to him, “As the Lord, your God, lives, I do not have any bread. I only have a handful of flour in a jar and a little bit of oil in a jug. I am gathering two sticks so that I can prepare it for myself and my son so that we can eat it and die.”

¹³ Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid. Go and do what you have said, but first make a small piece of bread and bring it to me. Afterwards, you can make some for yourself and your son. ¹⁴ For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour will not be used up, the jug of oil will not go dry, up until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’ ”

¹⁵ She went and did what Elijah had told her to do. She, and he, and her household ate for a long time. ¹⁶ The jar of flour was not used up, and the jug of oil did not go dry, just as the word of the Lord had foretold through Elijah.

The Concluding Hallel—Pss 146–150^[a]

Psalm 146^[b]

Trust in God, Creator and Redeemer

^1 [c]Alleluia.

²⁴ Once and for All.^[a] For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, so that he now appears in the presence of God on our behalf.

²⁵ Nor was it his purpose to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters into the sanctuary year after year with the blood that is not his own. ²⁶ For then he would have had to suffer over and over again since the creation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once and for all at the end of the ages to abolish sin by sacrificing himself.

²⁷ And just as human beings are destined to die but once, and after that to face judgment, ²⁸ so Christ, having been offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to bring salvation to those who are eagerly waiting for him.

³⁸ Denunciation of the Scribes.^[a] In his teaching, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, to be greeted respectfully in the marketplace, ³⁹ and to have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. ⁴⁰ They devour the houses of widows, while for the sake of appearance they recite lengthy prayers. They will receive the severest possible condemnation.”

⁴¹ The Poor Widow’s Offering.^[b] As Jesus was sitting opposite the treasury,^[c] he watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many wealthy people put in large sums. ⁴² A poor widow also came and put in two copper coins, that is, about a penny.^{[d] 43} Then he called his disciples to him and said, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow has given more than all the other contributors to the treasury. ⁴⁴ For the others have all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has given everything she possessed, all that she had to live on.”