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 for you.” ¹⁰ So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate 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]jar, 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 ^[b]bread, only a handful of flour in the ^[c]bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering ^[d]a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and ^(F)die.” ¹³ Then Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from ^[e]it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. ¹⁴ For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The ^[f]bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil ^[g]be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.’” ¹⁵ So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. ¹⁶ The ^[h]bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil ^[i]become empty, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah.

Elijah Raises the Widow’s Son

¹⁷ Now it came about after these things that 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 So she said to Elijah, “^(A)What do I have to do with you, O ^(B)man of God? ^[a]You have come to me to bring my iniquity to remembrance and to put my son to death!” ¹⁹ He said to her, “Give me your son.” Then he took him from her bosom and carried him up to the upper room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed. ²⁰ He called to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, have You also brought calamity to the widow with whom I am ^[b]staying, by causing her son to die?” ^21 (C)Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, I pray You, let this child’s life return ^[c]to him.” ²² The Lord heard the voice of Elijah, ^(D)and the life of the child returned ^[d]to him and he revived. ²³ Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper 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, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is ^(B)not according to man. 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 manner 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 ^[a]countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ^(J)ancestral traditions. ¹⁵ But when God, 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 ^[b](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 ^[c]become acquainted with ^(S)Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days. ¹⁹ But I did not see any other of the apostles except ^[d](T)James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ (Now in what I am writing to you, ^[e]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 ^[f]sight to ^(Y)the churches of Judea which were ^(Z)in Christ; ²³ but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching ^(AA)the faith which he once ^(AB)tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And they ^(AC)were glorifying God ^[g]because of me.

¹¹ Soon afterwards He 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 ^[c]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, “^[d]Do not weep.” 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 The ^[e]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 arisen among us!” and, “God has ^[f]visited His people!” ^17 (E)This report concerning Him went out all over Judea and in all the surrounding district.