Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
17 Some time after that, the widow's son became ill. He became very ill until he could no longer breathe. 18 The woman said to Elijah, ‘Servant of God, why have you come to hurt me like this? Did you come to kill my son so that I would remember all my sins?’ 19 Elijah replied, ‘Give your son to me.’ He took her son from her arms. He carried the boy upstairs, to the room where he was staying. He put the boy down to lie on his bed. 20 Then Elijah prayed to the Lord, ‘Lord, my God! Why have you caused such bad trouble to happen to this kind widow? I came to stay with her and now you have killed her son!’ 21 Then Elijah lay with his body across the boy. He did that three times. He prayed to the Lord, ‘Lord, my God, please cause this boy's life to return to him!’ 22 The Lord answered Elijah's prayer. The boy started to breathe again. He was alive! 23 Elijah picked up the boy. He carried him down from his room into the house. He gave the boy to his mother and he said, ‘Look! Your son is alive!’ 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a servant of God. The words that you speak are truly a message from the Lord.’
David wrote this song. He asks God to bless the Temple.
Thank you, Lord[a]
30 Lord, I will praise you,
because you have saved me from death.
You have not let my enemies laugh at me.
2 Lord, my God, I called to you for help,
and you have made me well again.
3 Lord, you pulled me up
out of the deep hole of death.
You saved me
from among those who are going into the grave.
4 Sing to the Lord,
you people who trust him.
Praise his holy name.
5 His anger continues only for a moment,
but he is kind to us for our whole life.
You may be sad all through the night,
but in the morning, you will be happy again.[b]
6 When I was feeling safe and strong,
I thought, ‘Nothing can ever destroy me.’
7 But Lord, it was you who made my kingdom strong,
because you are so kind.
But then you turned away from me,
and I became very afraid.[c]
8 I called to you for help, Lord.
I asked you to be kind to me, my Lord.
9 If I go down into the deep hole of death,
that will not help you!
My dead body cannot praise you there!
It cannot tell people to trust you!
10 Lord, please listen to me!
Please be kind to me!
Lord, please be my helper!
11 Now you have caused me to stop crying,
so that I dance instead!
I do not need to wear sackcloth,
because I am no longer sad.
Instead, you have made me very happy.[d]
12 So I am truly happy and I will sing to praise you.
I cannot stay quiet!
Lord, my God,
I will continue to thank you for ever.
Paul's message is from God
11 The good news that I tell people did not come from any person on earth. I want you to know that, my friends. 12 Nobody on earth gave it to me. Nobody taught it to me. No, it was Jesus Christ himself who showed it to me clearly.
13 You know about the things that I did before, when I obeyed the Jewish rules. I caused very much trouble against God's church. I tried to destroy those people completely. 14 I obeyed the Jewish rules better than many other Jews who were my friends. I tried very much to obey the ideas that our Jewish ancestors taught. 15 But God had chosen me to serve him even before I was born. He chose me to be his servant because he is very kind. 16 He decided to show his Son clearly to me, so that I could tell the Gentiles about him.[a] When God chose me to do that, I did not talk about it with any person. 17 Nor did I go to Jerusalem to see Christ's apostles there. Those men were already his apostles before I was. But I did not go to talk to them. Instead, I went immediately to the region of Arabia.[b] Later, I went back to the city of Damascus.
18 Then, three years later, I did go to Jerusalem. I stayed there with Christ's apostle Peter for 15 days, so that he could teach me. 19 I did not see any other apostles, except James, who is the Lord's brother. 20 God knows that what I am writing to you is completely true! 21 Later, I went to different places in Syria and Cilicia.[c] 22 The Christians in the churches in Judea had never met me.[d] 23 They had only heard people say this about me: ‘This man caused bad trouble against us Christians before. He tried to destroy God's message about Jesus. But now he himself is telling people the good news about Jesus, so that they believe.’ 24 When the believers in Judea heard that, they praised God because of me.
Jesus makes a dead man alive again
11 The next day, Jesus went to a town called Nain. His disciples and a large group of other people went with him. 12 When he had almost reached the gate of the town, lots of people were coming out. They were carrying a dead man on a wooden board. They were taking him to bury him. His mother had no other sons and her husband was also dead. A large crowd of people from the town was going with her.
13 When the Lord Jesus saw her, he felt very sorry for her. He said to her, ‘Do not cry.’ 14 He went to the board and he touched it. The people who were carrying the dead man stopped. Jesus said, ‘Young man, I am telling you, get up!’ 15 Immediately, the dead man sat up and he began to talk. Jesus then gave him back to his mother.
16 Everyone there was very afraid. They praised God and said, ‘A great prophet of God has appeared among us. God has come to save his people!’
17 This news about Jesus went everywhere in Judea. The people in the places that were near there also heard about it.
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