The Marriage of Boaz and Ruth

4 No sooner had Boaz gone up to the gate and sat down there than the next-of-kin^[a] of whom Boaz had spoken came passing by. So Boaz said, “Come over;^[b] sit down here.” And he went over and sat down.^{(A) 2} Then Boaz took ten men of the elders of the town and said, “Sit down here,” so they sat down. ³ He then said to the next-of-kin,^[c] “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our kinsman Elimelech.^{(B) 4} So I thought I would tell you of it and say: Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you^[d] will not, tell me, so that I may know; for there is no one prior to you to redeem it, and I come after you.” So he said, “I will redeem it.”^{(C) 5} Then Boaz said, “The day you acquire the field from the hand of Naomi, you are also acquiring Ruth^[e] the Moabite, the widow of the dead man, to maintain the dead man’s name on his inheritance.”^{(D) 6} At this, the next-of-kin^[f] said, “I cannot redeem it for myself without damaging my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”^(E)

⁷ Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging to confirm a transaction: the one took off a sandal and gave it to the other; this was the manner of attesting in Israel.^{(F) 8} So when the next-of-kin^[g] said to Boaz, “Acquire it for yourself,” he took off his sandal. ⁹ Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I have acquired from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon. ¹⁰ I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, to be my wife, to maintain the dead man’s name on his inheritance, in order that the name of the dead may not be cut off from his kindred and from the gate of his native place; today you are witnesses.”^{(G) 11} Then all the people who were at the gate, along with the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you produce children^[h] in Ephrathah and bestow a name in Bethlehem;^{(H) 12} and, through the children that the Lord will give you by this young woman, may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”^(I)

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.^{(J) 14} Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin,^[i] and may his name be renowned in Israel!^{(K) 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.”^{(L) 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.

⁴¹ Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”^{(A) 43} Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day.^{(B) 45} It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.^{(C) 46} Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.^{(D) 47} Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.^{(E) 48} I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”^(F)

⁵² The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”^{(G) 53} So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.^{(H) 54} Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day,^{(I) 55} for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them.^{(J) 57} Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which the ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

The Ruler from Bethlehem

The Dispute about Greatness

²⁴ A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest.^{(A) 25} But he said to them, “The kings of the gentiles lord it over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors.^{(B) 26} But not so with you; rather, the greatest among you must become like the youngest and the leader like one who serves.^{(C) 27} For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.^(D)

²⁸ “You are those who have stood by me in my trials,^{(E) 29} and I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom,^{(F) 30} so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.^(G)