Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Rain Storm Ends the Drought

⁴¹ After this, Elijah told Ahab, “Get up and have something to eat and drink, because there’s the sound of a coming rainstorm.” ⁴² So Ahab got up to get something to eat and drink while Elijah went back up to the top of Mount^[a] Carmel, where he bowed low to the ground and placed his face between his knees.

⁴³ Then he told his young servant, “Go and look toward the sea.”

So he went and looked out to sea. “Nothing there,” he said.

But Elijah told him to go back seven times. ⁴⁴ On the seventh look, he said, “Look! There’s a cloud, a small one, about the size of a man’s hand. It’s coming up out of the sea!”

“Get up and find Ahab!” Elijah^[b] said. “Tell him, ‘Mount your chariot and ride down the mountain^[c] so the storm doesn’t stop you.’”

⁴⁵ A little while later, the sky turned black with storm clouds and winds, and there was a heavy shower. So Ahab rode off to Jezreel. ⁴⁶ After Ahab had left,^[d] the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah, and he tucked his mantle into his belt and outran Ahab in a race to the city gate of Jezreel.

Interpreting the Time^(A)

16 When the Pharisees and Sadducees arrived, in order to test Jesus^[a] they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. ² He replied to them, “You say,

You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, yet you can’t interpret the signs of the times?^{[b] 4} An evil and adulterous generation craves a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then he left them and went away.