Book of Common Prayer

David wrote this prayer.

God will help me

David wrote this prayer.

A prayer for help

The leader must use the music called ‘The Deer of the Dawn.’

This is a song that David wrote.

Please help me, God!

Boaz marries Ruth

4 In the morning, Boaz went to the gate of the town and he sat down there.^[a] Later, the family-redeemer that Boaz had talked about to Ruth came there. Boaz said to him, ‘Come here, my friend, and sit down.’ So the man went to sit with Boaz.

² Boaz chose ten of the town's leaders and he said to them, ‘Come and sit here.’ So they sat down. ³ Then Boaz said to the family-redeemer, ‘Naomi has returned from Moab. She wants to sell the piece of land that belonged to our relative, Elimelech. ⁴ I thought that I must tell you about this, in front of the leaders of our town. Tell us if you will buy this land from Naomi, so that all the people who sit here know what you decide. If you want to buy it, then you should buy it. If you do not want to buy it, then you must tell me. Then I will know what to do. You are the person who must decide. If you do not choose to buy the land, then I can buy it.’ The relative said, ‘I will buy it.’

⁵ Then Boaz said, ‘You should also know this: When you buy the land from Naomi, you also have to marry the Moabite woman, Ruth. She is the widow of Elimelech's son. She will give birth to your children and Elimelech's land will continue to belong to his family.’

⁶ When Boaz said that, the relative replied, ‘If that is true, I cannot buy the land. It would not belong to my own children when I die. You may buy the land instead of me. I cannot buy it myself.’^[b]

⁷ In Israel at this time, when somebody agreed to sell land, he removed his shoe. He gave it to the man who was buying the land. Then everyone could see that they both agreed. They could not change their minds.

⁸ So the relative said to Boaz, ‘You may buy the land.’ When he said that, he removed his shoe.

⁹ Boaz said to the town's leaders and to all the people there, ‘You have all seen today that I have bought the land from Naomi. I have bought all the land that belonged to Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon. ¹⁰ I will also marry Ruth, who came here from Moab. She was Mahlon's wife. In that way, the land will still belong to his family. Ruth's descendants will still have his family's name. His family will continue to belong to this town where he lived. Today you have seen that this is what we have agreed together.’

¹¹ Then all the leaders and the other people at the gate said, ‘We have seen that this is true. We pray that the Lord will bless the woman who is coming into your home as your wife. We pray that he will bless her as he blessed Rachel and Leah.^[c] They gave birth to many children for the family of Israel. We pray that you will become a rich man in Ephrathah's clan. And we pray that you will become famous in Bethlehem town. ¹² We pray that this woman will give birth to many children for you. Then the Lord will give you many descendants, so that you have a large family. We pray that your family will be like the family of Perez, who was the son of Judah and his wife, Tamar.’^[d]

Ruth gives birth to a son

¹³ So Boaz married Ruth. He lived with her as his wife. The Lord blessed her so that she became pregnant. She gave birth to a son. ¹⁴ The women of Bethlehem said to Naomi, ‘We praise the Lord! Today, he has given to you a relative to take care of you! We pray that the child will become famous everywhere in Israel! ¹⁵ He will help you to feel young again. He will take care of you when you are old. Your son's wife, Ruth, has given birth to this boy. She loves you and she has helped you more than seven sons could ever do.’

¹⁶ Naomi took the child and she held him near to her. She took care of him as if he was her own son. ¹⁷ The women who lived there said, ‘Now Naomi has a son again!’ They called the boy Obed. He became the father of Jesse, who became the father of David.

Leaders in the church

¹⁷ Everyone should respect leaders of the believers who lead the church well.^[a] The church should also pay them properly for their work. That is certainly true for leaders who teach God's people and speak God's message to them. ¹⁸ The Bible says: ‘Do not tie shut the mouth of a bull while it walks on your wheat seeds.’^[b] The Bible also says: ‘You must pay a worker what his work is worth.’

¹⁹ Somebody may tell you that a leader of the believers has done something wrong. But do not accept that as true, unless two or three people say the same thing. ²⁰ If a leader is really guilty and continues to do wrong things, you must warn him. Do that when everyone in the church is there. They will hear what you say, and they will be afraid to do wrong things themselves.

²¹ I say this to you very strongly: Obey what I am telling you to do. Remember that God himself and Christ Jesus, together with their special angels, are all watching what you do. Do not quickly decide if someone has done right or wrong. Be fair and judge everyone in the same way. ²² Do not hurry to put your hands on anyone to choose him as a leader of the church. Perhaps that man has done something wrong. Then people might think that you agree with his sins. You yourself must always be careful to do what is right and good.

²³ I know that you often become ill. So do not drink only water, but drink a little wine. This will help your stomach to keep well.

²⁴ Some people do wrong things that everyone can see clearly. When someone judges those people, everyone already knows that they are guilty. So everybody already knows that it is right to punish those people. But for other people, nobody knows about their sins until later. ²⁵ It is the same with the good things that people do. Many good things are clear for everyone to see. And even the good things that people do secretly will not remain a secret for ever.

Jesus goes to the house of a Pharisee

14 One Jewish day of rest, Jesus went into the house of a leader of the Pharisees. This man had asked him to come and to eat a meal with him. The people there were all watching him carefully. ² A sick man came up to Jesus. His arms and legs had grown fat, because they were full of water. ³ So Jesus spoke to the Pharisees and to the teachers of God's Law. He asked them, ‘Is it right for us to make someone well on our day of rest, or not?’ ⁴ But they would not say anything. So Jesus took the sick man and he made him well again. Then he let him go away.

⁵ Then Jesus asked the people, ‘Maybe one of you has a son or an animal that falls into a well on our day of rest. What will you do? You will pull the child or the animal out of the well immediately.’ ⁶ When Jesus said this, they could not say anything else.

⁷ Jesus watched how people chose the best places to sit at the meal.^[a] So he told this story to those who were sitting there:

⁸ ‘When someone asks you to come to a special meal, do not sit in the best place. A man that is more important than you may come later. ⁹ Then the man that asked you to the meal might say to you, “Give the best place to this man.” Then you will feel ashamed that you sat there. You will have to move to the lowest place and sit there. ¹⁰ Instead, when someone asks you to a meal, you should do this. Go and sit in the least important place. Then the man that asked you to the meal will see you there. And he may say to you, “My friend, move up here to a better place.” Everyone who is there at the meal will see this. So they will know that you are an important person. ¹¹ It will be the same in the kingdom of God. Some people lift themselves up to be important. God will bring all of them down low. Other people are humble. God will lift up those people to a good place.’