Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

(By David.)

Trust the Lord

Ruth Meets Boaz

2 ^1-3 (A) One day, Ruth said to Naomi, “Let me see if I can find someone who will let me pick up the grain left in the fields by the harvest workers.”^[a]

Naomi answered, “Go ahead, my daughter.” So immediately Ruth went out to pick up grain in a field. She didn't know it was owned by Boaz, a relative of Naomi's husband Elimelech, as well as a rich and important man.

⁴ When Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and went out to his field, he said to the harvest workers, “The Lord bless you!”

They replied, “And may the Lord bless you!”

⁵ Then Boaz asked the man in charge of the harvest workers, “Who is that young woman?”

⁶ The man answered, “She is the one who came back from Moab with Naomi. ⁷ She asked if she could pick up grain left by the harvest workers, and she has been working all morning without a moment's rest.”^[b]

⁸ Boaz went over to Ruth and said, “I think it would be best for you not to pick up grain in anyone else's field. Stay here with the women ⁹ and follow along behind them, as they gather up what the men have cut. I have warned the men not to bother you, and whenever you are thirsty, you can drink from their water jars.”

¹⁰ Ruth bowed down to the ground and said, “You know I come from another country. Why are you so good to me?”

¹¹ Boaz answered, “I've heard how you've helped your mother-in-law ever since your husband died. You even left your own father and mother to come and live in a foreign land among people you don't know. ¹² I pray that the Lord God of Israel will reward you for what you have done. And now that you have come to him for protection, I pray that he will bless you.”

¹³ Ruth replied, “Sir, it's good of you to speak kindly to me and make me feel so welcome. I'm not even one of your servants.”

¹⁴ At mealtime Boaz said to Ruth, “Come, eat with us. Have some bread and dip it in the sauce.” At once she sat down with the workers, and Boaz handed her some roasted grain. Ruth ate all she wanted and had some left over.

¹⁵ When Ruth left to start picking up grain, Boaz told his men, “Don't stop her, even if she picks up grain from where it is stacked. ¹⁶ Be sure to pull out some stalks of grain from the bundles and leave them on the ground for her. And don't speak harshly to her!”

Warning to the Rich

5 You rich people should cry and weep! Terrible things are going to happen to you. ^2 (A) Your treasures have already rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. ^3 (B) Your money has rusted, and the rust will be evidence against you, as it burns your body like fire. Yet you keep on storing up wealth in these last days. ^4 (C) You refused to pay the people who worked in your fields, and now their unpaid wages are shouting out against you. The Lord All-Powerful has surely heard the cries of the workers who harvested your crops.

⁵ While here on earth, you have thought only of filling your own stomachs and having a good time. But now you are like fat cattle on their way to be butchered. ^6 (D) You have condemned and murdered innocent people, who couldn't even fight back.