Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

94 Hashem G-d, to whom vengeance belongeth; O G-d, to whom vengeance belongeth, show Thyself.

² Rise up, Thou Shofet HaAretz; render gemul (recompense, desert) to the ge’im (proud ones).

³ Ad mosai, Hashem, shall the resha’im, how long shall the resha’im triumph?

⁴ How long shall they utter and speak malicious lies? And all the po’alei aven (workers of iniquity) glorify themselves?

⁵ They crush Thy people, Hashem, and afflict Thine nachalah.

⁶ They slay the almanah and the ger, and murder the yetomim (fatherless, orphans).

⁷ Yet they say, Hashem shall not see, neither shall the Elohei Ya’akov regard it.

⁸ Understand, ye brutish among the people; and ye kesilim (fools), when will ye get seichel?

⁹ He that planted the ozen (ear), shall He not hear? He that formed the ayin (eye), shall He not see?

¹⁰ He that chastiseth the Goyim, shall not He reprove? He that is the melamed (teacher) of da’as to adam?

¹¹ Hashem knoweth the machshevot (thoughts) of adam, that they are hevel (vanity, futile).

¹² Ashrei (blessed) is the gever whom Thou chastenest, Hashem, and teachest him out of Thy torah;

¹³ That Thou mayest grant him relief from the days of rah, until a shachat (pit) is dug for the rasha.

¹⁴ For Hashem will not cast off His people, neither will He forsake His nachalah.

¹⁵ But mishpat shall revert unto tzedek; and all the yishrei lev (upright in heart) shall follow after it.

¹⁶ Who will rise up for Me against the evildoers? Or who will take a stand for Me against the po’alei aven (workers of iniquity)?

¹⁷ Unless Hashem had been my help, my nefesh had almost dwelt in dumah (silence).

¹⁸ When I said, My regel (foot) slippeth, Thy chesed, Hashem, held me up.

¹⁹ In the multitude of my anxieties within me Thy comforts delight my nefesh.

²⁰ Shall the kisse of corruption have chavurah (fellowship) with Thee, those, which deviseth evil by a chok (statute)?

²¹ They band together against the nefesh of the tzaddik, and condemn dahm naki (innocent blood).

²² But Hashem is my stronghold; and Elohai is the Tzur of my refuge.

²³ And He shall turn back upon them their own iniquity, and shall destroy them for their own wickedness; Hashem Eloheinu shall destroy them.

1 Now it came to pass in the yamim when HaShofetim (the Judges) ruled, that there was a ra’av (famine) in the land. And a certain ish (man) of Beit-Lechem Yehudah went to sojourn in the sadei Moav, he, and his isha (wife), and his two banim (sons).

² And the shem (name) of the ish (man) was Elimelech, and the shem (name) of his isha (wife) Naomi, and the shem of his two banim Machlon and Kilyon, Ephrathites of Beit-Lechem Yehudah. And they came into the sadei Moav, and continued there.

³ And Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left (alive) and her two banim.

⁴ And they took them wives of the nashim (women) of Moav; the shem (name) of the one was Orpah, and the shem (name) of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about eser shanim (ten years).

⁵ And Machlon and Kilyon died also both of them; and the isha was left (alive), surviving with neither her yeladim nor her ish.

⁶ Then she arose with her kallot, that she might make teshuvah (return) from the sadei Moav: for in the sadeh of Moav she had heard how that Hashem had visited His people in giving them lechem (bread).

⁷ Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two kallot with her; and they set on the derech (way, road) to make teshuvah (return) unto Eretz Yehudah.

⁸ And Naomi said unto her two kallot, Go, go back each to her beis em (mother’s house): may Hashem show chesed (lovingkindness) to you, as ye have dealt with hamesim (the dead ones), and with me.

⁹ Hashem grant you that ye may find menuchah (resting place), each of you in the bais of her ish. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept.

¹⁰ And they said unto her, Surely we will make teshuvah (return) with thee unto thy people.

¹¹ And Naomi said, Turn back, my banot; why will ye go with me? Are there yet any more banim in my womb, that they may be your husbands?

¹² Turn back, my banot, go your way; for I am too old to have an ish. If I should say, I have tikvah, if I should have an ish halailah (tonight), and should also bear banim,

¹³ Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? Would ye stay from having ba’alim (husbands) for them? Nay, my banot; for it is more mar (bitter) for me than you, for the Yad Hashem has gone out against me.

¹⁴ And they lifted up their voice, and wept again; and Orpah kissed [cf Mt 26:49] her chamot; but Ruth clung unto her.

¹⁵ And she said, Hinei, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people, and unto her g-ds; return thou after thy sister-inlaw.

¹⁶ And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy G-d shall be Elohai;

¹⁷ Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried. Hashem do so to me, and more also, if anything but HaMavet part thee and me.

¹⁸ When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left urging her.

¹⁹ So they two went until they came to Beit-Lechem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Beit-Lechem, that kol ha’ir (all the town) was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?

²⁰ And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi [Pleasant], call me Mara [Bitter]; for Shaddai hath dealt very bitterly with me.

²¹ I went away full and Hashem hath brought me back empty; why then call me Naomi, seeing Hashem hath testified against me, and Shaddai hath made me very bitter?

²² So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her kallah, with her, which returned out of the sadei Moav; and they came to Beit-Lechem in the beginning of katzir seorim (barley harvest).

5 To a Zaken do not speak harsh rebuke. Rather entreat him as an abba. Treat the bochrim as achim (brothers).

² Elderly nashim treat as imahot (mothers); younger nashim as achayot (sisters) in all hatohar (moral purity).

³ Honor [with support] almanot (widows) that are really almanot.

⁴ But if any almanah has banim or bnei banim, let the banim or bnei banim learn first to show yirat Shomayim vis-a-vis their own bais and to render recompense to the horim (parents), for this is acceptable in the sight of Hashem.

⁵ Now the true almanah, left alone, has set her tikvah on Hashem and continues in her techinnah [2:1] and her tefillos yomam valailah.

⁶ But the one living in ahavat ta’anugot (hedonism) has died while living.

⁷ And insist on these things, that the almanot be irreproachable.

⁸ But if anyone does not get a parnasah to provide for his own mishpochah and especially his own bais, he has denied the emunah [of Moshiach] and is worse than an Apikoros (skeptic, unbeliever).