Psalm 94

⁷ (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption^(A) and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal^(B) and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions^(C) in Israel.)^(D)

⁸ So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.^(E)

⁹ Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses^(F) that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. ¹⁰ I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite,^(G) Mahlon’s widow, as my wife,^(H) in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown.^(I) Today you are witnesses!^(J)”

¹¹ Then the elders and all the people at the gate^(K) said, “We are witnesses.^(L) May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah,^(M) who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah^(N) and be famous in Bethlehem.^{(O) 12} Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez,^(P) whom Tamar^(Q) bore to Judah.”

Naomi Gains a Son

¹³ So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive,^(R) and she gave birth to a son.^{(S) 14} The women^(T) said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord,^(U) who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer.^(V) May he become famous throughout Israel! ¹⁵ He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law,^(W) who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons,^(X) has given him birth.”

¹⁶ Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. ¹⁷ The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse,^(Y) the father of David.^(Z)

The Genealogy of David^(AA)

¹⁸ This, then, is the family line of Perez^(AB):

¹⁶ He went to Nazareth,^(A) where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue,^(B) as was his custom. He stood up to read,^{(C) 17} and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

²⁰ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down.^(G) The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled^(H) in your hearing.”

²² All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.^(I)

²³ Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown^(J) what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”^(K)

²⁴ “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.^{(L) 25} I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.^{(M) 26} Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.^{(N) 27} And there were many in Israel with leprosy^[b] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”^(O)

²⁸ All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. ²⁹ They got up, drove him out of the town,^(P) and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. ³⁰ But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.^(Q)