Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁵ Blessed is he who has the God of Jacob for his help; whose hope is in the LORD his God,

⁶ Who made Heaven and Earth, the sea, and all that therein is. Who keeps his fidelity forever.

⁷ Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives bread to the hungry. The LORD frees the prisoners.

⁸ The LORD gives sight to the blind. The LORD raises up the crooked. The LORD loves the righteous.

⁹ The LORD keeps the strangers. He relieves the fatherless and widow; but He overthrows the way of the wicked.

¹⁰ The LORD shall reign forever! O Zion, your God endures from generation to generation. Praise the LORD!

¹³ So Boaz took Ruth; and she was his wife. And when he went into her, the LORD gave, so that she conceived and bore a son.

¹⁴ And the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, Who has not left you without a kinsman today. And His name shall be continued in Israel.

¹⁵ And this shall restore your life and nourish your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you, has borne him. And she is better to you than seven sons.”

¹⁶ And Naomi took the child and laid it in her lap and became nurse to it.

¹⁷ And the women, her neighbors, gave it a name, saying, “There is a child born to Naomi.” And they called his name “Obed”. The same was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

¹¹ Therefore, seeing that all these things must be dissolved, what kind of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness

¹² (expecting and earnestly desiring the coming of that Day of God by which the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with heat)?

¹³ But we look for new heavens and a new Earth (according to His promise), in which dwells righteousness.

¹⁴ Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.

¹⁵ And consider that the patience of our Lord is salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him.

¹⁶ As in all his letters, he speaks of these things; among which, some things are hard to understand (which the unlearned and unstable twist, as they do other Scriptures to their own destruction).

¹⁷ Therefore you, beloved - seeing you know these things beforehand - beware, lest you are also plucked away with the error of the wicked and fall from your own steadfastness.

¹⁸ But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory, both now and forevermore. Amen.