Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

94 O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth—O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, show Thyself.

² Lift up Thyself, Thou judge of the earth; render to the proud their due reward.

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?

⁵ They break in pieces Thy people, O Lord, and afflict Thine heritage.

⁶ They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.

⁷ Yet they say, “The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.”

⁸ Understand, ye brutish 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 chastiseth the heathen, shall not He correct? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not He know?

¹¹ The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.

¹² Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of Thy law,

¹³ that Thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be dug for the wicked.

¹⁴ For the Lord will not cast off His people, neither will He forsake His inheritance.

¹⁵ But judgment shall return 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 had almost dwelt in silence.

¹⁸ When I said, “My foot slippeth,” 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, which frameth mischief by a law?

²¹ They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.

²² But the Lord is my defense, and my God is the rock of my refuge.

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!

¹⁴ And she lay at his feet until the morning; and she rose up before one could know another. And he said, “Let it not be known that a woman came unto the floor.”

¹⁵ Also he said, “Bring the veil that thou hast upon thee and hold it.” And when she held it, he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her; and she went into the city.

¹⁶ And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “Who art thou, my daughter?” And she told her all that the man had done to her.

¹⁷ And she said, “These six measures of barley gave he me; for he said to me, ‘Go not empty unto thy mother-in-law.’”

¹⁸ Then said she, “Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall; for the man will not be in rest until he hath finished the thing this day.”

4 Then went Boaz up to the gate and sat himself down there; and behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by, unto whom he said, “Ho, such a one! Turn aside, sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down.

² And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, “Sit ye down here.” And they sat down.

³ And he said unto the kinsman, “Naomi, who hath come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land which was our brother Elimelech’s.

⁴ And I thought to advise thee, saying, ‘Buy it before the inhabitants and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it. But if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know; for there is none to redeem it besides thee, and I am after thee.’” And he said, “I will redeem it.”

⁵ Then said Boaz, “What day thou buyest the field from the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.”

⁶ And the kinsman said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance. Redeem thou my right for thyself, for I cannot redeem it.”

⁹ Let not a widow be taken into the number under three score years old, having been the wife of one man,

¹⁰ well reported of for good works: if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work.

¹¹ But the younger widows refuse, for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry,

¹² having damnation because they have cast off their first faith.

¹³ And besides they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.

¹⁴ It is my will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give no occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.

¹⁵ For some have already turned aside after Satan.

¹⁶ If any man or woman who believeth have widows, let them relieve them and let not the church be burdened, that it may assist those who are widows indeed.