Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 81
To the Chief Musician; set to Philistine lute, or [possibly] a particular Gittite tune. [A Psalm] of Asaph.
1 Sing aloud to God our Strength! Shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
2 Raise a song, sound the timbrel, the sweet lyre with the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the New Moon, at the full moon, on our feast day.
4 For this is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 This He ordained in Joseph [the [a]savior] for a testimony when He went out over the land of Egypt. The speech of One Whom I knew not did I hear [saying],
6 I removed his shoulder from the burden; his hands were freed from the basket.
7 You called in distress and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!(A)
8 Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you—O Israel, if you would listen to Me!
9 There shall no strange god be among you, neither shall you worship any alien god.
10 I am the Lord your God, Who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
11 But My people would not hearken to My voice, and Israel would have none of Me.
12 So I gave them up to their own hearts’ lust and let them go after their own stubborn will, that they might follow their own counsels.(B)
13 Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways!
14 Speedily then I would subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their adversaries.
15 [Had Israel listened to Me in Egypt, then] those who hated the Lord would have come cringing before Him, and their defeat would have lasted forever.
16 [God] would feed [Israel now] also with the finest of the wheat; and with honey out of the rock would I satisfy you.
2 Now Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.
2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor. Naomi said to her, Go, my daughter.
3 And [Ruth] went and gleaned in a field after the reapers; and she happened to stop at the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.
4 And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, The Lord be with you! And they answered him, The Lord bless you!
5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, Whose maiden is this?
6 And the servant set over the reapers answered, She is the Moabitish girl who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.
7 And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So she came and has continued from early morning until now, except when she rested a little in the house.
8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, Listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but stay here close by my maidens.
9 Watch which field they reap, and follow them. Have I not charged the young men not to molest you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.
10 Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should notice me, when I am a foreigner?
11 And Boaz said to her, I have been made fully aware of all you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and mother and the land of your birth and have come to a people unknown to you before.
12 The Lord recompense you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under Whose wings you have come to take refuge!
13 Then she said, Let me find favor in your sight, my lord. For you have comforted me and have spoken to the heart of your maidservant, though I am not as one of your maidservants.
14 And at mealtime Boaz said to her, Come here and eat of the bread and dip your morsel in the sour wine [mixed with oil]. And she sat beside the reapers; and he passed her some parched grain, and she ate until she was satisfied and she had some left [for Naomi].
15 And when she got up to glean, Boaz ordered his young men, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her.
16 And let fall some handfuls for her on purpose and let them lie there for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.
17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned. It was about an ephah of barley.
18 And she took it up and went into the town; she showed her mother-in-law what she had gleaned, and she also brought forth and gave her the food she had reserved after she was satisfied.
19 And her mother-in-law said to her, Where have you gleaned today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who noticed you. So [Ruth] told [her], The name of him with whom I worked today is Boaz.
20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of the Lord who has not ceased his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said to her, The man is a near relative of ours, one who has the right to redeem us.(A)
21 And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said to me also, Stay close to my young men until they have harvested my entire crop.
22 And Naomi said to Ruth, It is good, my daughter, for you to go out with his maidens, lest in any other field you be molested.
23 So she kept close to the maidens of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
14 So, beloved, since you are expecting these things, be eager to be found by Him [at His coming] without spot or blemish and at peace [in serene confidence, [a]free from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts].
15 And consider that the long-suffering of our Lord [[b]His slowness in avenging wrongs and judging the world] is salvation ([c]that which is conducive to the soul’s safety), even as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the spiritual insight given him,
16 Speaking of this as he does in all of his letters. There are some things in those [epistles of Paul] that are difficult to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist and misconstrue to their own [d]utter destruction, just as [they distort and misinterpret] the rest of the Scriptures.
17 Let me warn you therefore, beloved, that knowing these things beforehand, you should be on your guard, lest you be carried away by the error of lawless and wicked [persons and] fall from your own [present] firm condition [your own steadfastness of mind].
18 But grow in grace (undeserved favor, spiritual strength) and [e]recognition and knowledge and understanding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (the Messiah). To Him [be] glory (honor, majesty, and splendor) both now and to the day of eternity. Amen (so be it)!
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