Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Elijah and the widow from Zarephath

⁸ The Lord’s word came to Elijah: ⁹ Get up and go to Zarephath near Sidon and stay there. I have ordered a widow there to take care of you. ¹⁰ Elijah left and went to Zarephath. As he came to the town gate, he saw a widow collecting sticks. He called out to her, “Please get a little water for me in this cup so I can drink.” ¹¹ She went to get some water. He then said to her, “Please get me a piece of bread.”

¹² “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any food; only a handful of flour in a jar and a bit of oil in a bottle. Look at me. I’m collecting two sticks so that I can make some food for myself and my son. We’ll eat the last of the food and then die.”

¹³ Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go and do what you said. Only make a little loaf of bread for me first. Then bring it to me. You can make something for yourself and your son after that. ¹⁴ This is what Israel’s God, the Lord, says: The jar of flour won’t decrease and the bottle of oil won’t run out until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.” ¹⁵ The widow went and did what Elijah said. So the widow, Elijah, and the widow’s household ate for many days. ¹⁶ The jar of flour didn’t decrease nor did the bottle of oil run out, just as the Lord spoke through Elijah.

¹⁷ After these things, the son of the widow, who was the matriarch of the household, became ill. His sickness got steadily worse until he wasn’t breathing anymore. ¹⁸ She said to Elijah, “What’s gone wrong between us, man of God? Have you come to me to call attention to my sin and kill my son?”

¹⁹ Elijah replied, “Give your son to me.” He took her son from her and carried him to the upper room where he was staying. Elijah laid him on his bed. ²⁰ Elijah cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, why is it that you have brought such evil upon the widow that I am staying with by killing her son?” ²¹ Then he stretched himself over the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, please give this boy’s life back to him.” ²² The Lord listened to Elijah’s voice and gave the boy his life back. And he lived. ²³ Elijah brought the boy down from the upper room of the house and gave him to his mother. Elijah said, “Look, your son is alive!”

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

Psalm 146

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that the gospel I preached isn’t human in origin. ¹² I didn’t receive it or learn it from a human. It came through a revelation from Jesus Christ.

¹³ You heard about my previous life in Judaism, how severely I harassed God’s church and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴ I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my peers, because I was much more militant about the traditions of my ancestors. ¹⁵ But God had set me apart from birth and called me through his grace. He was pleased ¹⁶ to reveal his Son to me, so that I might preach about him to the Gentiles. I didn’t immediately consult with any human being. ¹⁷ I didn’t go up to Jerusalem to see the men who were apostles before me either, but I went away into Arabia and I returned again to Damascus. ¹⁸ Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. ¹⁹ But I didn’t see any other of the apostles except James the brother of the Lord. ²⁰ Before God, I’m not lying about the things that I’m writing to you! ²¹ Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, ²² but I wasn’t known personally by the Christian churches in Judea. ²³ They only heard a report about me: “The man who used to harass us now preaches the faith that he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ So they were glorifying God because of me.

Jesus raises a widow’s son

¹¹ A little later Jesus went to a city called Nain. His disciples and a great crowd traveled with him. ¹² As he approached the city gate, a dead man was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her. ¹³ When he saw her, the Lord had compassion for her and said, “Don’t cry.” ¹⁴ He stepped forward and touched the stretcher on which the dead man was being carried. Those carrying him stood still. Jesus 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 Awestruck, everyone praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” ¹⁷ This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding region.