Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
1 ¶ O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongs; O God, to whom vengeance belongs, show thyself.
2 Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.
3 LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
4 How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?
5 They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thy heritage.
6 They slay the widow and the stranger and murder the fatherless.
7 Yet they say, JAH shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
8 Understand, ye carnal ones among the people, and, ye fools, when will ye be wise?
9 He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?
10 He that chastens the Gentiles, shall he not correct? he that teaches man knowledge, shall not he know?
11 The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
12 ¶ Blessed is the man whom thou dost chasten, O JAH, and teach him out of thy law,
13 to cause him to rest in the days of adversity, until the pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.
15 But the judgment shall be returned unto righteousness, and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
16 Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
17 Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul would have quickly dwelt with the dead.
18 When I said, My foot slips, thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul.
20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, who creates toil under the guise of law?
21 They gather themselves together as an army against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent blood.
22 But the LORD is my refuge, and my God is the rock of my trust.
23 And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.
1 ¶ Now it came to pass in the days when the judges governed that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem of Judah went to sojourn in the fields of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem of Judah. And they came into the fields of Moab and continued there.
3 And Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons,
4 who took wives for themselves of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth; and they dwelt there about ten years.
5 And Mahlon and Chilion both died also; and the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
6 ¶ Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, to return from the fields of Moab, for she had heard in the field of Moab how the LORD had visited his people to give them bread.
7 Therefore she went forth out of the place where she had been and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah.
8 And Naomi said unto her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each of you to thy mother’s house; the LORD deal with you in mercy as ye have dealt with the dead and with me.
9 The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept.
10 And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.
11 And Naomi replied, Go back, my daughters; why must ye go with me? Do I have more sons in my womb that they may be your husbands?
12 Turn, my daughters, and go back, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I should say, I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons,
13 should ye tarry for them until they are grown? Should ye stay without husbands because of them? No, my daughters, for I have greater bitterness than you because the hand of the LORD has come out against me.
14 And they lifted up their voice and wept again, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth cleaved unto her.
15 And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law has returned to her people and to her gods; return thou after thy sister-in-law.
16 And Ruth said, Do not intreat me to leave thee or to return from following after thee, for wherever thou goest, I will go; and wherever thou shalt lodge, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people and thy God my God.
17 Where thou diest, I will die, and there will I be buried; let the LORD do so unto me and let him give unto me that only death shall part thee and me.
18 When she saw that she was courageous to go with her, then she left off speaking to her.
19 ¶ So the two walked until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, entering into Bethlehem, that all the city was moved because of them, and they said, Is this Naomi?
20 And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara; for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
21 I went out full, and the LORD has brought me home again empty. Why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the fields of Moab, and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
5 ¶ Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father, and the younger men as brethren,
2 the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters, with all purity.
3 ¶ Honour widows that are widows indeed.
4 But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let those learn first to govern their house in piety and to recompense their parents, for this is honest and pleasing before God.
5 Now she that is a widow indeed and desolate, trusts in God, and is diligent in supplications and prayers night and day,
6 but she that lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.
7 Therefore command these things, that they may be blameless.
8 But if any provide not for his own and specially for those of his own house, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
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