20 The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;(A)
    according to the cleanness of my hands(B) he has rewarded me.(C)
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;(D)
    I am not guilty of turning(E) from my God.
22 All his laws are before me;(F)
    I have not turned away from his decrees.
23 I have been blameless(G) before him
    and have kept myself from sin.
24 The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,(H)
    according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

25 To the faithful(I) you show yourself faithful,(J)
    to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
26 to the pure(K) you show yourself pure,
    but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.(L)
27 You save the humble(M)
    but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.(N)
28 You, Lord, keep my lamp(O) burning;
    my God turns my darkness into light.(P)
29 With your help(Q) I can advance against a troop[a];
    with my God I can scale a wall.

30 As for God, his way is perfect:(R)
    The Lord’s word is flawless;(S)
    he shields(T) all who take refuge(U) in him.

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 18:29 Or can run through a barricade

15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves(A) and don’t reprimand her. 16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke(B) her.”

17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed(C) the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.[a](D) 18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over(E) after she had eaten enough.

19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!(F)

Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.

20 “The Lord bless him!(G)” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law.(H) “He has not stopped showing his kindness(I) to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative;(J) he is one of our guardian-redeemers.[b](K)

21 Then Ruth the Moabite(L) said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”

22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”

23 So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley(M) and wheat harvests(N) were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

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Footnotes

  1. Ruth 2:17 That is, probably about 30 pounds or about 13 kilograms
  2. Ruth 2:20 The Hebrew word for guardian-redeemer is a legal term for one who has the obligation to redeem a relative in serious difficulty (see Lev. 25:25-55).

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil.(A) Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.(B) 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.(C) 19 Do not take revenge,(D) my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[a](E) says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[b](F)

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

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Footnotes

  1. Romans 12:19 Deut. 32:35
  2. Romans 12:20 Prov. 25:21,22

Love Fulfills the Law

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.(A) The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”[a](B) and whatever other command there may be, are summed up(C) in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b](D) 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. Romans 13:9 Exodus 20:13-15,17; Deut. 5:17-19,21
  2. Romans 13:9 Lev. 19:18

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