Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

37 Never envy the wicked! ² Soon they fade away like grass and disappear. ³ Trust in the Lord instead. Be kind and good to others; then you will live safely here in the land and prosper, feeding in safety.

⁴ Be delighted with the Lord. Then he will give you all your heart’s desires. ⁵ Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him to help you do it, and he will. ⁶ Your innocence will be clear to everyone. He will vindicate you with the blazing light of justice shining down as from the noonday sun.

⁷ Rest in the Lord; wait patiently for him to act. Don’t be envious of evil men who prosper.

⁸ Stop your anger! Turn off your wrath. Don’t fret and worry—it only leads to harm. ⁹ For the wicked shall be destroyed, but those who trust the Lord shall be given every blessing. ¹⁰ Only a little while and the wicked shall disappear. You will look for them in vain. ¹¹ But all who humble themselves before the Lord shall be given every blessing and shall have wonderful peace.

^12-13 The Lord is laughing at those who plot against the godly, for he knows their judgment day is coming. ¹⁴ Evil men take aim to slay the poor; they are ready to butcher those who do right. ¹⁵ But their swords will be plunged into their own hearts, and all their weapons will be broken.

¹⁶ It is better to have little and be godly than to own an evil man’s wealth; ¹⁷ for the strength of evil men shall be broken, but the Lord takes care of those he has forgiven.^[a]

2 Now Naomi had an in-law there in Bethlehem who was a very wealthy man. His name was Boaz.

² One day Ruth said to Naomi, “Perhaps I can go out into the fields of some kind man to glean the free grain^[a] behind his reapers.”

And Naomi said, “All right, dear daughter. Go ahead.”

³ So she did. And as it happened, the field where she found herself belonged to Boaz, this relative of Naomi’s husband.

^4-5 Boaz arrived from the city while she was there. After exchanging greetings with the reapers he said to his foreman, “Hey, who’s that girl over there?”

⁶ And the foreman replied, “It’s that girl from the land of Moab who came back with Naomi. ⁷ She asked me this morning if she could pick up the grains dropped by the reapers, and she has been at it ever since except for a few minutes’ rest over there in the shade.”

^8-9 Boaz went over and talked to her. “Listen, my child,” he said to her. “Stay right here with us to glean; don’t think of going to any other fields. Stay right behind my women workers; I have warned the young men not to bother you; when you are thirsty, go and help yourself to the water.”

^10-11 She thanked him warmly. “How can you be so kind to me?” she asked. “You must know I am only a foreigner.”

“Yes, I know,” Boaz replied, “and I also know about all the love and kindness you have shown your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you left your father and mother in your own land and have come here to live among strangers. ¹² May the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, bless you for it.”

¹³ “Oh, thank you, sir,” she replied. “You are so good to me, and I’m not even one of your workers!”

¹⁴ At lunchtime Boaz called to her, “Come and eat with us.”

So she sat with his reapers and he gave her food,^[b] more than she could eat. ¹⁵ And when she went back to work again, Boaz told his young men to let her glean right among the sheaves without stopping her, ¹⁶ and to snap off some heads of barley and drop them on purpose for her to glean, and not to make any remarks.

5 Look here, you rich men, now is the time to cry and groan with anguished grief because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. ² Your wealth is even now rotting away, and your fine clothes are becoming mere moth-eaten rags. ³ The value of your gold and silver is dropping fast, yet it will stand as evidence against you and eat your flesh like fire. That is what you have stored up for yourselves to receive on that coming day of judgment. ⁴ For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. Their cries have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

⁵ You have spent your years here on earth having fun, satisfying your every whim, and now your fat hearts are ready for the slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned and killed good men who had no power to defend themselves against you.