Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ⁹ “Arise, go to ^(A)Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, ^(B)I have commanded a widow there to provide food for you.” ¹⁰ So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the entrance of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and ^(C)he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a ^[a]cup, so that I may drink.” ¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” ¹² But she said, “^(D)As the Lord your God lives, ^(E)I have no food, only a handful of flour in the ^[b]bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering ^[c]a few sticks so that I may go in and prepare it for me and my son, so that we may ^[d]eat it and ^(F)die.” ¹³ However, Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said. Just make me a little bread loaf from ^[e]it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. ¹⁴ For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘The ^[f]bowl of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil become empty, until the day that the Lord provides rain on the face of the earth.’” ¹⁵ So she went and did everything in accordance with the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. ¹⁶ The ^[g]bowl of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil become empty, in accordance with the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah.

Elijah Raises the Widow’s Son

¹⁷ Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his ^[a]condition became very grave, until at the end ^[b]he was no longer breathing. ¹⁸ So she said to Elijah, “^[c](A)Why is my business any of yours, you ^(B)man of God? Yet you have come to me to bring my wrongdoing to remembrance, and to put my son to death!” ¹⁹ But he said to her, “Give me your son.” Then he took him from her ^[d]arms and carried him up to the upstairs room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed. ²⁰ And he called to the Lord and said, “Lord, my God, have You also brought catastrophe upon the widow with whom I am ^[e]staying, by causing her son to die?” ^21 (C)Then he stretched himself out over the boy three times, and called to the Lord and said, “Lord, my God, please, let this boy’s life return ^[f]to him.” ²² And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah, ^(D)and the life of the boy returned ^[g]to him and he revived. ²³ Elijah then took the boy and brought him down from the upstairs room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” ²⁴ Then the woman said to Elijah, “^(E)Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

The Lord, an Abundant Helper.

Paul Defends His Ministry

¹¹ For ^(A)I would have you know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel which was preached by me is ^(B)not ^[a]of human invention. ¹² For ^(C)I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a ^(D)revelation of Jesus Christ.

¹³ For you have heard of ^(E)my former way of life in Judaism, how I ^(F)used to persecute ^(G)the church of God beyond measure and ^(H)tried to destroy it; ¹⁴ and I ^(I)was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my ^[b]countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ^(J)ancestral traditions. ¹⁵ But when ^[c]He who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and ^(K)called me through His grace was pleased ¹⁶ to reveal His Son in me so that I might ^(L)preach Him among the Gentiles, ^(M)I did not immediately consult with ^[d](N)flesh and blood, ^17 (O)nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to ^(P)Damascus.

¹⁸ Then ^(Q)three years later I went up ^(R)to Jerusalem to ^[e]become acquainted with ^[f](S)Cephas, and stayed with him for fifteen days. ¹⁹ But I did not see another one of the apostles except ^[g](T)James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ (Now in what I am writing to you, ^[h]I assure you ^(U)before God that I am not lying.) ²¹ Then ^(V)I went into the regions of ^(W)Syria and ^(X)Cilicia. ²² I was still unknown by ^[i]sight to ^(Y)the churches of Judea which are ^(Z)in Christ; ²³ but they only kept hearing, “The man who once persecuted us is now preaching ^(AA)the faith which he once ^(AB)tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And they ^(AC)were glorifying God ^[j]because of me.

¹¹ Soon afterward Jesus went to a city called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, ^[a]accompanied by a large crowd. ¹² Now as He approached the gate of the city, ^[b]a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her. ¹³ When ^(A)the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her and said to her, “Do not go on weeping.” ¹⁴ And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” ¹⁵ And the dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. ^16 (B)Fear gripped them all, and they began ^(C)glorifying God, saying, “A great ^(D)prophet has appeared among us!” and, “God has ^[c]visited His people!” ^17 (E)And this report about Him spread throughout Judea and in all the surrounding region.