Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁸ The word of the Lord came to him, saying, ⁹ “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there. I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” ¹⁰ So he got up and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and said, “Please get a small cup of water for me to drink.” ¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

¹² She said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, but only a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a jar. I am gathering two sticks, that I can go in and make it for me and my son, so we may eat it and die.”

¹³ Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make a little cake for me first, and bring it to me, and afterward, make some for your son and you, ¹⁴ for thus says the Lord God of Israel: The barrel of meal will not run out, nor will the jar of oil empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.”

¹⁵ She went and did what Elijah told her to do, and she, he, and her household ate many days. ¹⁶ The barrel of meal did not run out, nor did the jar of oil empty, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by Elijah.

¹⁷ Later on, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became terribly sick, so much so that he had no breath left in him. ¹⁸ She said to Elijah, “What do I have to do with you, O you man of God? Have you come to remind me of my sin and to kill my son?”

¹⁹ And he said to her, “Give me your son,” and he took him out of her arms and carried him up to a loft where he slept and laid him on his own bed. ²⁰ He cried to the Lord and said, “O Lord, my God, have You brought tragedy upon the widow with whom I live by killing her son?” ²¹ And he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord and said, “O Lord, my God, I pray that You let this child’s soul come into him again.”

²² The Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again, and he was revived. ²³ Elijah took the child and brought him down out of the chamber into the house and returned him to his mother, and Elijah said, “See, your son lives!”

²⁴ The woman said to Elijah, “Now, because of this, I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth!”

Psalm 146

How Paul Became an Apostle

¹¹ But I reveal to you, brothers, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. ¹² For I neither received it from man, neither was I taught it, except by a revelation of Jesus Christ.

¹³ For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it, ¹⁴ and progressed in Judaism above many of my equals in my own heritage, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. ¹⁵ But when it pleased God, who set me apart since I was in my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, ¹⁶ to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the nations, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, ¹⁷ nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. But I went into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

¹⁸ After three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and stayed with him for fifteen days. ¹⁹ I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!

²¹ Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia ²² and was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. ²³ They had heard only, “He who persecuted us in times past now preaches the faith which he once destroyed.” ²⁴ And they glorified God because of me.

The Raising of the Widow’s Son

¹¹ The following day He went into a city called Nain, and many of His disciples and a large crowd went with Him. ¹² When He came near the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her. ¹³ When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”

¹⁴ Then He came and touched the coffin, and those who carried it stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” ¹⁵ He who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He gave him to his mother.

¹⁶ Fear came on everyone. And they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen up among us!” and “God has visited His people!” ¹⁷ This rumor of Him went throughout all Judea and the surrounding region.