Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

94 God is Lord of vengeances; God of vengeance did freely. (God is the Lord of vengeance; O God of vengeance, show thyself!)

² Be thou enhanced that deemest the earth; yield thou (a) yielding to proud men. (Be thou raised up, who judgest the earth; and punish thou those, who be proud.)

³ Lord, how long sinners; how long shall sinners have glory? (Lord, how long shall the sinners, yea, how long shall the sinners have glory?)

⁴ They shall tell out, and shall speak wickedness; all men shall speak that work unrightfulness. (They boast, and they all speak wickedness; yea, all who work unrighteousness have glory in themselves.)

⁵ Lord, they have made low thy people; and they have dis-eased thine heritage. (Lord, they have beaten down thy people; and they have distressed thy inheritance.)

⁶ They killed a widow and a comeling; and they have slain fatherless children and motherless. (They have killed widows and newcomers, or strangers; and they have slain the fatherless and the motherless, or the orphans.)

⁷ And they said, The Lord shall not see (it); and, (The) God of Jacob shall not understand.

⁸ Ye unwise men in the people, understand; and, ye fools, learn sometime. (Understand this, ye ignorant among the people; and learn something, ye fools.)

⁹ Shall not he hear, that planted the ear; either beholdeth not he, that made the eye? (Shall he not hear, who formed the ear? shall he not see, who made the eye?)

¹⁰ Shall not he reprove, that chastiseth folks; (shall he not know,) which teacheth man knowing? (Shall he not rebuke, who chastiseth the nations? shall he not know, who teacheth the people knowledge?)

¹¹ The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men; that those be (in) vain. (The Lord knoweth, that the thoughts of the people be all in vain, that is, empty, and useless, or worthless.)

¹² Blessed is the man, whom thou, Lord, hast learned; and hast taught him of thy law. (Happy is the person whom thou, Lord, hast taught; yea, whom thou hast taught thy Law.)

¹³ That thou assuage him from evil days; till a ditch be digged to the sinner. (That thou assuage him from the evil days; until a ditch be dug for the sinners.)

¹⁴ For the Lord shall not put away his people; and he shall not forsake his heritage. (For the Lord shall not reject his people; and he shall not abandon his inheritance.)

¹⁵ Till rightfulness be turned (again) into doom; and who be nigh it, all that be of rightful heart. (For judgement shall return unto righteousness; and all who have an upright heart shall follow it.)

¹⁶ Who shall rise with me against mis-doers; either who shall stand with me against them that work wickedness? (Who shall rise up for me against the evil-doers? and who shall stand up for me against those who do evil?)

¹⁷ No but for the Lord helped me; almost my soul had dwelled in hell. (If the Lord had not helped me; soon I would have slept in Sheol, or in the land of the dead/soon I would have slept in the grave.)

¹⁸ If I said, My foot was stirred; Lord, thy mercy helped me. (But when I said, My foot is slipping! Lord, thy love held me up.)

¹⁹ After the multitude of my sorrows in mine heart; thy comforts made glad my soul. (And after a multitude of sorrows gathered together in my heart; once again thy comfort gladdened my soul.)

²⁰ Whether the seat of wickedness cleaveth to thee; that makest travail in commandment? (Shall the throne of wickedness cleave to thee; thou who makest trespass within the commandments?/thou who makest trespass by the commandments?)

²¹ They shall take (hold) against the soul of a just man; and they shall condemn innocent blood. (For they gather themselves together against the life of the righteous; and they condemn the innocent to death.)

²² And the Lord was made to me into refuge (But the Lord was made my refuge); and my God was made into the help of mine hope.

²³ And he shall yield to them the wickedness of them; and in the malice of them he shall lose them, our Lord God shall lose them. (And he shall punish them for their wickedness; he shall destroy them for their malice, yea, the Lord our God shall destroy them.)

¹⁴ Therefore she slept at his feet till to the going away of [the] night, and then she rose (up), before that men should know each other. And Boaz said to her, Be thou ware lest any man know, that thou camest hither.

¹⁵ And again he said, Stretch forth thy mantle with which thou art covered, and hold thou with ever either hand. And while she stretched forth and held, he meted six measures of barley, and putted on her; and she bare, and entered into the city, (And then he said, Stretch forth thy mantle with which thou art covered, and hold thou it with both hands. And while she stretched it forth and held it, he measured, or counted, out six measures of barley, and put it on her mantle; and she carried it, and went into the city,)

¹⁶ and came to her mother-in-law. Which said to Ruth, What hast thou done, daughter? And Ruth told to her all things, which the man had done to her. (and came home to her mother-in-law. And Naomi said to Ruth, What happened, my daughter? And Ruth told her all the things, that the man had done for her.)

¹⁷ And Ruth said, Lo! he gave to me six measures of barley; and he said, I will not that thou turn again void to thy mother-in-law. (And Ruth added, Lo! he gave me six measures of barley; for he said, I will not have it that thou return empty-handed to thy mother-in-law.)

¹⁸ And Naomi said, Abide, daughter, till we see what issue the thing shall have (And Naomi said, Just wait, or have patience, daughter, until we see what shall happen); for the man shall not cease, no but he [ful]fill those things which he spake.

4 Therefore Boaz ascended to the gate, and sat there (And so Boaz went up to the gate, and sat down there); and when he had seen the kinsman pass forth, of whom the word was had, Boaz said to him, Bow thou a little, and sit here; and he called him by his name. And he turned (back), and sat (down).

² And Boaz took ten elder men of the city, and he said to them, Sit ye down here. And while they sat (And when they had sat down),

³ Boaz spake to the kinsman, (and said,) Naomi, that turned again from the country of Moab, sold, that is, is in purpose to sell, for it was not yet sold, the part of the field of our brother Elimelech, (Boaz said to his kinsman, Our kinswoman Naomi, who hath returned from the country of Moab, is selling the portion of the field, that was Elimelech’s, our kinsman,)

⁴ which thing I would that thou hear; and I would say to thee before all men sitting, and greater in birth of my people. If thou wilt have in possession the field by right of nigh kin, buy thou, and have thou in possession; soothly if it displeaseth thee, show thou this same thing to me, that I know what I ought to do; for none is nigh in kin, besides thee which art the former, and besides me which am the second. And the man answered, I shall buy the field. (which thing I desire that thou hear about; and I say it to thee before all the men sitting here, and of great age, that is, the elders, of my people. If thou wilt have the field for a possession by right of next of kin, buy thou it, and have thou it for a possession; but if it displeaseth thee, tell thou this to me, so that I know what I ought to do; for no one is next of kin, besides thee, who art the first by right, and I, who am the second. And the man answered, I shall buy the field.)

⁵ To whom Boaz said, When thou hast bought the field (out) of the hand of the woman, thou oughtest also to take to wife Ruth of Moab, that was the wife of the dead man, that thou raise the name of thy kinsman in his heritage. (To whom Boaz then said, And when thou hast bought the field from the hand of the woman, thou ought also to take for a wife Ruth the Moabite, who was the wife of the dead man, so that thou can raise up the name of thy kinsman on his inheritance, that is, on his land.)

⁶ And he answered, I forsake the right of nigh kin; for I ought not to do away the heritage of mine own family; use thou my privilege, the which I acknowledge me to want gladly. (And the man answered, If that be so, then I forsake the right of next of kin; for I ought not to take away any inheritance from my own family; use thou my privilege, though I acknowledge that I truly had wanted that land.)

⁹ A widow be chosen [into the temple] not less than sixty years, that was wife of one husband,

¹⁰ and hath witnessing in good works, if she nourished children [having witnessing in good works, if she nourished sons], if she received poor men to harbour, if she hath washed the feet of holy men, if she ministered to men that suffered tribulation [if she under-ministered to men suffering tribulation], if she followed all good work.

¹¹ But eschew younger widows; for when they have done lechery, they will be wedded in Christ, [Forsooth eschew younger widows; forsooth when they have done lechery in Christ, they will be wedded,]

¹² having damnation, for they have made void the first faith.

¹³ Also [and] they idle learn to go about houses, not only idle, but [they be] full of words and curious [but and full of words and curiosity], speaking things that it behooveth not.

¹⁴ Therefore I will, that younger widows be wedded, and bring forth children, and be housewives, to give none occasion to the adversary, because of cursed thing [by cause of cursed thing].

¹⁵ For now some be turned aback after Satan.

¹⁶ If any faithful man hath widows, minister he to them [under-minister he to them], that the church be not charged, that it suffice to them that be very widows.