Boaz Will Redeem Ruth

3 Then her mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, shall I not seek ^[a]security for you, that it may go well for you? ² Now then, is Boaz not ^(A)our relative, with whose young women you were? Behold, he is winnowing barley at the threshing floor tonight. ³ Wash yourself therefore, and anoint yourself, and put on your best clothes, and go down to the threshing floor; but do not reveal yourself to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. ⁴ And it shall be when he lies down, that you shall ^[b]take notice of the place where he lies, and you shall go and uncover his feet and lie down; then he will tell you what you should do.” ⁵ And she said to her, “^(B)All that you say I will do.”

⁶ So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law had commanded her. ⁷ When Boaz had eaten and drunk and ^(C)his heart was cheerful, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain; and she came secretly, and uncovered his feet and lay down. ⁸ And it happened in the middle of the night that the man was startled and ^[c]bent forward; and behold, a woman was lying at his feet. ⁹ So he said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth your slave. Now spread your garment over your slave, for you are a redeemer.” ¹⁰ Then he said, “^(D)May you be blessed of the Lord, my daughter. You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first, by not going after young men, whether poor or rich. ¹¹ So now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you say, for all ^[d]my people in the city know that you are ^(E)a woman of excellence. ¹² But now, although it is true that I am a redeemer, yet there is also a redeemer more closely related than I. ¹³ Remain this night, and when morning comes, ^(F)if he will ^[e]redeem you, good; let him redeem you. But if he does not wish to ^[f]redeem you, then I will redeem you, ^(G)as the Lord lives. Lie down until morning.”

¹⁴ So she lay at his feet until morning, and got up before one person could recognize another; and he said, “^(H)Do not let it be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.” ¹⁵ Again he said, “Give me the shawl that is on you and hold it.” So she held it, and he measured six measures of barley and laid it on her. Then ^[g]she went into the city. ¹⁶ When she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “^[h]How did it go, my daughter?” And she told her all that the man had done for her. ¹⁷ She also said, “These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said, ‘Do not go to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’” ¹⁸ Then she said, “Wait, my daughter, until you know how the matter ^[i]turns out; for the man will not rest until he has ^[j]settled it today.”

The Marriage of Ruth

4 Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there, and behold, ^(I)the redeemer of whom Boaz spoke was passing by, so he said, “Come over here, ^[k]friend, sit down here.” And he came over and sat down. ² Then he took ten men of the ^(J)elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. ³ And he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has returned from the land of Moab, has to sell the plot of land ^(K)which belonged to our brother Elimelech. ⁴ So I thought that I would ^[l]inform you, saying, ‘^(L)Buy it before those who are sitting here, and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if ^[m]not, tell me so that I may know; for ^(M)there is no one except you to redeem it, and I am after you.’” And he said, “I will redeem it.” ⁵ Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also acquire Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of the deceased, in order ^(N)to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance.” ⁶ Then ^(O)the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, otherwise I would ^[n]jeopardize my own inheritance. Redeem it for yourself; you may have my right of redemption, since I cannot redeem it.”

⁷ Now this was ^(P)the custom in former times in Israel concerning the redemption and the exchange of land to confirm any matter: a man removed his sandal and gave it to another; and this was the way of confirmation in Israel. ⁸ So the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.” And he removed his sandal. ⁹ Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon. ¹⁰ Furthermore, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance, so ^(Q)that the name of the deceased will not be eliminated from his brothers or from the ^[o]court of his birth place; you are witnesses today.” ¹¹ And all the people who were ^[p]in the court, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home ^(R)like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel; and may you achieve ^[q]wealth in Ephrathah and ^[r]become famous in Bethlehem. ¹² Moreover, may your house be like the house of ^(S)Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the ^[s]descendants whom the Lord will give you by this young woman.”

¹³ So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he had relations with her. And ^(T)the Lord ^[t]enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. ¹⁴ Then the ^(U)women said to Naomi, “Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name ^[u]become famous in Israel. ¹⁵ May he also be to you one who restores life and sustains your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you ^[v](V)and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”

The Line of David

¹⁶ Then Naomi took the child and ^[w]laid him in her lap, and became his nurse. ¹⁷ And the neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi!” So they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

¹⁸ Now these are the generations of Perez: ^(W)Perez fathered Hezron, ¹⁹ Hezron fathered Ram, and Ram fathered Amminadab, ²⁰ and Amminadab fathered Nahshon, and Nahshon fathered Salmon, ²¹ and Salmon fathered Boaz, and Boaz fathered Obed, ²² and Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.

Safe at Malta

28 When ^(A)they had been brought safely through, ^(B)then we found out that ^(C)the island was called ^[a]Malta. ^2 (D)The ^[b]natives showed us extraordinary kindness, for they kindled a fire and ^(E)took us all in because of the rain that had started and because of the cold. ³ But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out ^[c]because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand. ⁴ When ^(F)the ^[d]natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, “^(G)Undoubtedly this man is a murderer, and though he has been saved from the sea, ^[e]justice has not allowed him to live.” ⁵ However, ^[f](H)Paul shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm. ⁶ Now they were expecting that he was going to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and ^(I)began to say that he was a god.

⁷ Now in the neighboring parts of that place were lands belonging to the ^[g]leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us warmly for three days. ⁸ And it happened that the father of Publius was lying in bed afflicted with a recurring fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him, and after he ^(J)prayed, he ^(K)laid his hands on him and healed him. ⁹ After this happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases were coming to him and being cured. ¹⁰ They also showed us many honors, and when we were about to set sail, they ^[h]supplied us with ^[i]everything we needed.

Paul Arrives in Rome

¹¹ After three months we set sail on ^(L)an Alexandrian ship which had wintered at the island, and which had ^[j]the Twin Brothers for its figurehead. ¹² After we put in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days. ¹³ From there we sailed around and arrived at Rhegium, and a day later a south wind came up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli. ^14 [k]There we found some ^(M)brothers and sisters, and were invited to stay with them for seven days; and that is how we came to Rome. ¹⁵ And from there the ^(N)brothers and sisters, when they heard about us, came as far as the ^[l]Market of Appius and the ^[m]Three Inns to meet us; and when Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.

¹⁶ When we entered Rome, Paul was ^(O)allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him.

¹⁷ After three days ^[n]Paul called together those who were ^(P)the leading men of the Jews, and when they came together, he began saying to them, “^(Q)Brothers, ^(R)though I had done nothing against our people or ^(S)the customs of our ^[o]fathers, yet I was handed over to the Romans as a prisoner from Jerusalem. ¹⁸ And when they had ^(T)examined me, they ^(U)were willing to release me because there were ^(V)no grounds ^[p]for putting me to death. ¹⁹ But when the Jews ^[q]objected, I was forced to ^(W)appeal to Caesar, not that I had any accusation against my nation. ²⁰ For this reason, therefore, I ^[r]requested to see you and to speak with you, since I am wearing ^(X)this chain for ^(Y)the sake of the hope of Israel.” ²¹ They said to him, “We have neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor has any of ^(Z)the brothers come here and reported or spoken anything bad about you. ²² But we desire to hear from you what ^[s]your views are; for regarding this ^(AA)sect, it is known to us that ^(AB)it is spoken against everywhere.”

²³ When they had set a day for ^[t]Paul, people came to him at ^(AC)his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly ^(AD)testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, ^(AE)from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening. ^24 (AF)Some were being persuaded by the things said by Paul, but others would not believe. ²⁵ And when they disagreed with one another, they began leaving after Paul said one parting statement: “The Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers, ²⁶ saying,

²⁸ Therefore, let it be known to you that ^(AJ)this salvation of God has been sent ^(AK)to the Gentiles; they will also listen.”^[y]

³⁰ Now Paul stayed two full years ^[z]in his own rented lodging and welcomed all who came to him, ^31 [aa](AL)preaching the kingdom of God and teaching things about the Lord Jesus Christ ^(AM)with all openness, unhindered.