Psalm 18:20-30

Psalm 17 Psalm 19

Psalm 18:20-30 New International Version (NIV)

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

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

³⁰As for God, his way is perfect:
The Lord’s word is flawless;
he shields all who take refuge in him.

Footnotes:

Psalm 18:29 Or can run through a barricade

New International Version (NIV)

Ruth 2:15-23

Ruth 1 Ruth 3

Ruth 2:15-23 New International Version (NIV)

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

¹⁷So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.^[a] ¹⁸She 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 after she had eaten enough.

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

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!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.^[b]”

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

²²Naomi 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.”

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

Footnotes:

Ruth 2:17 That is, probably about 30 pounds or about 13 kilograms
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).

New International Version (NIV)

Romans 12:17-21

Romans 11 Romans 13

Romans 12:17-21 New International Version (NIV)

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

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

Footnotes:

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

New International Version (NIV)

Romans 13:8-10

Romans 12 Romans 14

Romans 13:8-10 New International Version (NIV)

Love Fulfills the Law

⁸Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. ⁹The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”^[a] and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”^[b] ¹⁰Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.