The Gifts of Wisdom

Ruth Meets Boaz

2 Now Naomi had a kinsman on her husband’s side, a prominent rich man of the family of Elimelech whose name was Boaz.^{(A) 2} And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain behind someone in whose sight I may find favor.” She said to her, “Go, my daughter.”^{(B) 3} So she went. She came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers. As it happened, she came to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. ⁴ Just then Boaz came from Bethlehem. He said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you.” They answered, “The Lord bless you.”^{(C) 5} Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “To whom does this young woman belong?” ⁶ The young man who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.^{(D) 7} She said, ‘Please, let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.’ So she came, and she has been on her feet from early this morning until now without resting even for a moment.”^[a]

⁸ Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. ⁹ Keep your eyes on the field that is being reaped and follow behind them. I have ordered the young men not to bother you. If you get thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.” ¹⁰ Then she fell prostrate, with her face to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner?”^{(E) 11} But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told me, how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before.^{(F) 12} May the Lord reward you for your deeds, and may you have a full reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge!”^{(G) 13} Then she said, “May I continue to find favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, even though I am not one of your servants.”

¹⁴ At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some of this bread and dip your morsel in the sour wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he heaped up for her some parched grain. She ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over.^{(H) 15} When she got up to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, “Let her glean even among the standing sheaves, and do not reproach her. ¹⁶ You must also pull out some handfuls for her from the bundles and leave them for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.”

¹⁷ So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. ¹⁸ She picked it up and came into the town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gleaned. Then she took out and gave her what was left over after she herself had been satisfied.^{(I) 19} Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, saying, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.”^{(J) 20} Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a relative of ours, one of our nearest kin.”^[b](K)

The Genealogy of David

¹³ So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. When they came together, the Lord made her conceive, and she bore a son.^{(A) 14} Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin,^[a] and may his name be renowned in Israel!^{(B) 15} He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has borne him.”^{(C) 16} Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her bosom and became his nurse. ¹⁷ The women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed; he became the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Woes to Unrepentant Cities

²⁰ Then he began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done because they did not repent. ²¹ “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.^{(A) 22} But I tell you, on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you.^{(B) 23} And you, Capernaum,

“For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.^{(C) 24} But I tell you that on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you.”^(D)

Jesus Thanks His Father

²⁵ At that time Jesus said, “I thank^[a] you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants;^{(E) 26} yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.^{[b] 27} All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.^(F)

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.^{(G) 29} Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.^{(H) 30} For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Imitating Christ’s Humility

2 If, then, there is any comfort in Christ, any consolation from love, any partnership in the Spirit, any tender affection and sympathy,^{(A) 2} make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.^{(B) 3} Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.^{(C) 4} Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others.^{(D) 5} Let the same mind be in you that was^[a] in Christ Jesus,^(E)

Shining as Lights in the World

¹² Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence but much more now in my absence, work on your own salvation with fear and trembling,^{(L) 13} for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

¹⁴ Do all things without murmuring and arguing,^{(M) 15} so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world,^{(N) 16} holding forth the word of life so that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.^(O)

¹⁷ But even if I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the service of your faith, I rejoice, and I rejoice together with all of you;^{(P) 18} in the same way also you should rejoice and rejoice together with me.