Chapter 1

Naomi in Moab. ¹ Once back in the time of the judges^[a] there was a famine in the land; so a man from Bethlehem of Judah left home with his wife and two sons to reside on the plateau of Moab. ² The man was named Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and his sons Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem of Judah. Some time after their arrival on the plateau of Moab, ³ Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. ⁴ They married Moabite women, one named Orpah, the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, ⁵ both Mahlon and Chilion died also, and the woman was left with neither her two boys^[b] nor her husband.

⁶ She and her daughters-in-law then prepared to go back from the plateau of Moab because word had reached her there that the Lord had seen to his people’s needs^[c] and given them food. ⁷ She and her two daughters-in-law left the place where they had been living. On the road back to the land of Judah, ⁸ Naomi said to her daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you to your mother’s house.^[d] May the Lord show you the same kindness as you have shown to the deceased and to me. ^9 (A)May the Lord guide each of you to find a husband and a home in which you will be at rest.” She kissed them good-bye, but they wept aloud, ¹⁰ crying, “No! We will go back with you, to your people.” ¹¹ Naomi replied, “Go back, my daughters. Why come with me? Have I other sons in my womb who could become your husbands?^{[e] 12} Go, my daughters, for I am too old to marry again. Even if I had any such hope, or if tonight I had a husband and were to bear sons, ¹³ would you wait for them and deprive yourselves of husbands until those sons grew up? No, my daughters, my lot is too bitter for you, because the Lord has extended his hand against me.” ¹⁴ Again they wept aloud; then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth clung to her.

¹⁵ “See now,” she said, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god. Go back after your sister-in-law!” ^16 [f]But Ruth said, “Do not press me to go back and abandon you!

May the Lord do thus to me, and more, if even death separates me from you!” ¹⁸ Naomi then ceased to urge her, for she saw she was determined to go with her.

The Return to Bethlehem. ¹⁹ So they went on together until they reached Bethlehem. On their arrival there, the whole town was excited about them, and the women asked: “Can this be Naomi?” ^20 (B)But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi [‘Sweet’]. Call me Mara [‘Bitter’], for the Almighty has made my life very bitter. ^21 [g](C)I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why should you call me ‘Sweet,’ since the Lord has brought me to trial, and the Almighty has pronounced evil sentence on me.” ²² Thus it was that Naomi came back with her Moabite daughter-in-law Ruth, who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.^[h]

Chapter 2

The Meeting. ^1 [i]Naomi had a powerful relative named Boaz,^(D) through the clan of her husband Elimelech. ^2 [j]Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “I would like to go and glean grain in the field of anyone who will allow me.” Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” ³ So she went. The field she entered to glean after the harvesters happened to be the section belonging to Boaz, of the clan of Elimelech. ^4 [k]Soon, along came Boaz from Bethlehem and said to the harvesters, “The Lord be with you,” and they replied, “The Lord bless you.” ⁵ Boaz asked the young man overseeing his harvesters, “Whose young woman is this?” ⁶ The young man overseeing the harvesters answered, “She is the young Moabite who came back with Naomi from the plateau of Moab.^{(E) 7 [l]}She said, ‘I would like to gather the gleanings into sheaves after the harvesters.’ Ever since she came this morning she has remained here until now, with scarcely a moment’s rest.”

⁸ Boaz then spoke to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Do not go to glean in anyone else’s field; you are not to leave here. Stay here with my young women. ⁹ Watch to see which field is to be harvested, and follow them. Have I not commanded the young men to do you no harm? When you are thirsty, go and drink from the vessels the young people have filled.” ¹⁰ Casting herself prostrate upon the ground, she said to him, “Why should I, a foreigner, be favored with your attention?” ^11 (F)Boaz answered her: “I have had a complete account of what you have done for your mother-in-law after your husband’s death; you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom previously you did not know. ^12 (G)May the Lord reward what you have done! May you receive a full reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.” ¹³ She said, “May I prove worthy of your favor, my lord. You have comforted me. You have spoken to the heart of your servant^[m]—and I am not even one of your servants!” ¹⁴ At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and have something to eat; dip your bread in the sauce.” Then as she sat near the harvesters, he handed her some roasted grain and she ate her fill and had some left over. ¹⁵ As she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young people: “Let her glean among the sheaves themselves without scolding her, ¹⁶ and even drop some handfuls and leave them for her to glean; do not rebuke her.”

¹⁷ She gleaned in the field until evening, and when she beat out what she had gleaned it came to about an ephah^[n] of barley, ¹⁸ which she took into the town and showed to her mother-in-law. Next she brought out what she had left over from the meal and gave it to her. ¹⁹ So her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you go to work? May the one who took notice of you be blessed!” Then she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked. “The man at whose place I worked today is named Boaz,” she said. ^20 (H)“May he be blessed by the Lord, who never fails to show kindness to the living and to the dead,” Naomi exclaimed to her daughter-in-law. She continued, “This man is a near relative of ours, one of our redeemers.”^{[o] 21} “He even told me,” added Ruth the Moabite, “Stay with my young people until they complete my entire harvest.” ²² “You would do well, my daughter,” Naomi rejoined, “to work with his young women; in someone else’s field you might be insulted.” ²³ So she stayed gleaning with Boaz’s young women until the end of the barley and wheat harvests.

Mem

Nun

The Mercy of Jesus. ^7 [a]Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples.^(A) A large number of people [followed] from Galilee and from Judea. ⁸ Hearing what he was doing, a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon. ⁹ He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. ¹⁰ He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him.^{(B) 11 [b]}And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, “You are the Son of God.”^{(C) 12} He warned them sternly not to make him known.

The Mission of the Twelve. ^13 (D)He went up the mountain^[c] and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him. ^14 (E)He appointed twelve [whom he also named apostles] that they might be with him^[d] and he might send them forth to preach ¹⁵ and to have authority to drive out demons: ^16 [e][he appointed the twelve:] Simon, whom he named Peter; ¹⁷ James, son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, whom he named Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder;^{(F) 18} Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus; Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean, ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.

Blasphemy of the Scribes. ^20 [f]He came home.^[g] Again [the] crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat.^{(G) 21} When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”^{(H) 22} The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,”^[h] and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.”^(I)

Jesus and Beelzebul. ²³ Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, “How can Satan drive out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶ And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him. ²⁷ But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house. ²⁸ Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them.^{(J) 29} But whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit^[i] will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” ³⁰ For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Jesus and His Family. ^31 (K)His mother and his brothers arrived. Standing outside they sent word to him and called him. ³² A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers^[j] [and your sisters] are outside asking for you.” ³³ But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and [my] brothers?” ³⁴ And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. ³⁵ [For] whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”