Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to him: ⁹ “Get up! Go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there. I have commanded a woman there, a widow, to provide for you.”

¹⁰ So he got up and went to Zarephath. He came to the city gate, and there he saw a widow gathering sticks. He called to her and said, “Please give me a little water in a jar, so that I can have something to drink.”

¹¹ When she went to get it, he called to her, “Please bring me a piece of bread.”

¹² She said, “As surely as the Lord your God lives, I have no food except a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a pitcher. See, I am gathering a couple of sticks so that I can go and prepare it for myself and my son, so that we can eat it and then die.”

¹³ Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid. Go and do just as you said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from the flour and bring it out to me. Then go and make another for you and your son. ¹⁴ For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. The jar of flour will not run out and the pitcher of oil will not become empty until the day the Lord sends rain to water the surface of the ground.”

¹⁵ So she went and did exactly as Elijah said. He and she, as well as her household, were able to eat for many days. ¹⁶ The jar of flour did not run out, and the pitcher of oil did not become empty, just as the Lord had said through Elijah.

The Widow’s Son Dies

¹⁷ After these events, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. The illness became worse until he stopped breathing.

¹⁸ Then she said to Elijah, “What is the issue between us, man of God? Have you come to remind me of my sins and to kill my son?”

¹⁹ He said to her, “Bring your son to me.” Then he took him and carried him to the upstairs room where he was living, and he laid him on his bed. ²⁰ Then he cried out to the Lord, “O Lord, my God, have you sent tragedy on this woman with whom I am staying by killing her son?”

²¹ Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times, and he cried out to the Lord, “O Lord, my God, let this boy’s soul^[a] return to his body!” ²² The Lord listened to Elijah’s voice, and the boy’s soul returned to his body, and he came to life. ²³ Then Elijah took the boy and brought him down to the house from his upstairs room, and he gave him to his mother.

Elijah said, “See, your son is alive!”

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

Psalm 146

Praise Him for Protection

Praise for Protection

A Lifetime of Praise

No Help in Humans

Help in the Lord

An Eternity for Praise

Jesus Gave Paul the Gospel

¹¹ But I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. ¹² For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation from Jesus Christ.

¹³ Certainly you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God to an extraordinary degree and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴ I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my own people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. ¹⁵ However, God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased ¹⁶ to reveal his Son in me, so that I would preach him among the Gentiles. At that time, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, ¹⁷ and I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. Instead I went away into Arabia, and then I returned again to Damascus.

¹⁸ Next, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to meet Cephas^[a] and stayed with him fifteen days. ¹⁹ But I saw none of the other apostles, except James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ (Now about the things I am writing to you—look, I assure you in the presence of God that I am not lying.) ²¹ Then I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²² I was still personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. ²³ They heard only: “The one who was once persecuting us is now preaching the faith that he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And they were praising God for what happened to me.

Jesus Raises a Widow’s Son

¹¹ Soon afterward^[a] Jesus went on his way to a town called Nain, and^[b] his disciples and a large crowd were traveling with him. ¹² As he was approaching the town gate, there was a dead man being carried out, the only son of his mother. She was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. ¹³ When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not cry.” ¹⁴ He went up to the open coffin, touched it, and the pallbearers stopped. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” ¹⁵ The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

¹⁶ Fear gripped all of them, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us” and “God has visited his people!” ¹⁷ This was reported about him in all of Judea and in all the surrounding countryside.