Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
8 And the word of the Lord came to him:
9 Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her, Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
11 As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.
12 And she said, As the Lord your God lives, I have not a loaf baked but only a handful of meal in the jar and a little oil in the bottle. See, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it—and die.
13 Elijah said to her, Fear not; go and do as you have said. But make me a little cake of [it] first and bring it to me, and afterward prepare some for yourself and your son.
14 For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: The jar of meal shall not waste away or the bottle of oil fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.
15 She did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days.
16 The jar of meal was not spent nor did the bottle of oil fail, according to the word which the Lord spoke through Elijah.
17 After these things, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.
18 And she said to Elijah, What have you against me, O man of God? Have you come to me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son?
19 He said to her, Give me your son. And he took him from her bosom and carried him up into the chamber where he stayed and laid him upon his own bed.
20 And Elijah cried to the Lord and said, O Lord my God, have You brought further calamity upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying 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 You, let this child’s soul come back into him.
22 And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
23 And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the [lower part of the] house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, See, your son is alive!
24 And the woman said to Elijah, By this I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.
Psalm 146
1 Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 While I live will I praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have any being.
3 Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
4 When his breath leaves him, he returns to his earth; in that very day his [previous] thoughts, plans, and purposes perish.(A)
5 Happy (blessed, fortunate, enviable) is he who has the God of [special revelation to] Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God,(B)
6 Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, Who keeps truth and is faithful forever,
7 Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets free the prisoners,
8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the [uncompromisingly] righteous (those upright in heart and in right standing with Him).(C)
9 The Lord protects and preserves the strangers and temporary residents, He upholds the fatherless and the widow and sets them upright, but the way of the wicked He makes crooked (turns upside down and brings to ruin).
10 The Lord shall reign forever, even Your God, O Zion, from generation to generation. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)(D)
11 For I want you to know, brethren, that the Gospel which was proclaimed and made known by me is not man’s gospel [a human invention, according to or patterned after any human standard].
12 For indeed I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but [it came to me] through a [direct] revelation [given] by Jesus Christ (the Messiah).
13 You have heard of my earlier career and former manner of life in the Jewish religion (Judaism), how I persecuted and abused the church of God furiously and extensively, and [with fanatical zeal did my best] to make havoc of it and destroy it.
14 And [you have heard how] I outstripped many of the men of my own generation among the people of my race in [my advancement in study and observance of the laws of] Judaism, so extremely enthusiastic and zealous I was for the traditions of my ancestors.
15 But when He, Who had chosen and set me apart [even] before I was born and had called me by His grace (His undeserved favor and blessing), saw fit and was pleased(A)
16 To reveal (unveil, disclose) His Son within me so that I might proclaim Him among the Gentiles (the non-Jewish world) as the glad tidings (Gospel), immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood [did not consult or counsel with any frail human being or communicate with anyone].
17 Nor did I [even] go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles (special messengers of Christ) before I was, but I went away and retired into Arabia, and afterward I came back again to Damascus.
18 Then three years later, I did go up to Jerusalem to become [personally] acquainted with Cephas (Peter), and remained with him for fifteen days.
19 But I did not see any of the other apostles (the special messengers of Christ) except James the brother of our Lord.
20 Now [note carefully what I am telling you, for it is the truth], I write this as if I were standing before the bar of God; I do not lie.
21 Then I went into the districts (countries, regions) of Syria and Cilicia.
22 And so far I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Christ in Judea (the country surrounding Jerusalem).
23 They were only hearing it said, He who used to persecute us is now proclaiming the very faith he once reviled and which he set out to ruin and tried with all his might to destroy.
24 And they glorified God [as the Author and Source of what had taken place] in me.
11 [a]Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and His disciples and a great throng accompanied Him.
12 [Just] as He drew near the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a large gathering from the town was accompanying her.
13 And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, Do not weep.
14 And He went forward and touched the funeral bier, and the pallbearers stood still. And He said, Young man, I say to you, arise [[b]from death]!
15 And the man [who was] dead sat up and began to speak. And [Jesus] gave him [back] to his mother.
16 Profound and reverent fear seized them all, and they began [c]to recognize God and praise and give thanks, saying, A great [d]Prophet has appeared among us! And God has visited His people [in order to help and care for and provide for them]!
17 And this report concerning [Jesus] spread through the whole of Judea and all the country round about.(A)
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