Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Pleading for Help and Grateful Trust in God.

For the music director; according to ^[a]Jonath elem rehokim. A ^[b]Mikhtam of David, ^[c]when the Philistines seized him in Gath.

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.

⁶ Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are ^(A)mature; a wisdom, however, not of ^(B)this age nor of the rulers of ^(C)this age, who are ^(D)passing away; ⁷ but we speak God’s wisdom in a ^(E)mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ^(F)predestined before the ^(G)ages to our glory; ⁸ the wisdom ^(H)which none of the rulers of ^(I)this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified ^(J)the Lord of glory; ⁹ but just as it is written:

^10 [a](L)For to us God revealed them ^(M)through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the ^(N)depths of God. ¹¹ For who among people knows the thoughts of a person except the ^(O)spirit of the person that is in him? So also the thoughts of God no one knows, except the Spirit of God. ¹² Now we ^(P)have not received the spirit of ^(Q)the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God. ¹³ We also speak these things, ^(R)not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, ^[b]combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

¹⁴ But ^[c]a ^(S)natural person ^(T)does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are ^(U)foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵ But the one who is ^(V)spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is ^[d]discerned by no one. ¹⁶ For ^(W)who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But ^(X)we have the mind of Christ.