⁸ Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home.^(A) May the Lord show you kindness,^(B) as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands^(C) and to me. ⁹ May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest^(D) in the home of another husband.”

Then she kissed^(E) them goodbye and they wept aloud^{(F) 10} and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

¹¹ But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands?^{(G) 12} Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— ¹³ would you wait until they grew up?^(H) Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter^(I) for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!^(J)”

¹⁴ At this they wept^(K) aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law^(L) goodbye,^(M) but Ruth clung to her.^(N)

¹⁵ “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law^(O) is going back to her people and her gods.^(P) Go back with her.”

¹⁶ But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you^(Q) or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go,^(R) and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people^(S) and your God my God.^{(T) 17} Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely,^(U) if even death separates you and me.”^{(V) 18} When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.^(W)

Imitating Christ’s Humility

2 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit,^(A) if any tenderness and compassion,^{(B) 2} then make my joy complete^(C) by being like-minded,^(D) having the same love, being one^(E) in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.^(F) Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,^{(G) 4} not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.^(H)

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:^(I)

Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet

13 It was just before the Passover Festival.^(A) Jesus knew that the hour had come^(B) for him to leave this world and go to the Father.^(C) Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

² The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.^{(D) 3} Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power,^(E) and that he had come from God^(F) and was returning to God; ⁴ so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.^{(G) 5} After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet,^(H) drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

⁷ Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”^(I)

⁸ “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

⁹ “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean,^(J) though not every one of you.”^{(K) 11} For he knew who was going to betray him,^(L) and that was why he said not every one was clean.

¹² When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’^(M) and ‘Lord,’^(N) and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.^{(O) 15} I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.^(P)