Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

To the Overcomer upon Gittith, A Psalm of Asaph.

¹ ¶ Sing aloud unto God our strength; make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.

² Take the song and play the timbrel, the harp of joy with the psaltery.

³ Blow the shofar in the new moon in the time appointed on our solemn feast day.

⁴ For this is a statute of Israel and an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

⁵ This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt where I heard a language that I did not understand.

⁶ I removed his shoulder from the burden; his hands were delivered from working with clay.

⁷ Thou didst call in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder; I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

⁸ ¶ Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee; O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me,

⁹ no strange god shall be in thee, neither shalt thou worship any strange god.

¹⁰ I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt; open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

¹¹ But my people did not hearken to my voice, and Israel did not love me.

¹² So I gave them up unto the hardness of their heart, and they walked in their own counsels.

¹³ Oh, if my people would hearken unto me and Israel would walk in my ways!

¹⁴ I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their adversaries.

¹⁵ The haters of the LORD would have submitted themselves unto him, and their time would endure for ever.

¹⁶ And God would have fed them also the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock I would have satisfied thee.

2 ¶ And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of strength, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.

² And Ruth, the Moabitess, said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field and glean ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter.

³ And she went and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and it came to pass that her lot was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.

⁴ ¶ And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee.

⁵ Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this?

⁶ And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the damsel of Moab that came back with Naomi out of the fields of Moab;

⁷ and she has said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves; so she came and has continued from the morning until now except a short while that she was in the house.

⁸ Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hear, my daughter, do not glean in another field, nor leave here; thou shalt cleave to my maidens.

⁹ Look carefully upon the field that they reap and go after them, for I have charged the young men not to touch thee. And when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels and drink of that which the young men have drawn.

¹⁰ Then she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes that thou should acknowledge me, seeing I am a stranger?

¹¹ And Boaz answered and said unto her, It has fully been showed me all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thy husband and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother and the land of thy nativity and art come three days ago unto a people whom thou didst not know before.

¹² Let the LORD recompense thy work and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to cover thyself.

¹³ Then she said, Let me find grace in thy sight, my lord, for thou hast comforted me and hast spoken unto the heart of thy handmaid though I am not like unto one of thy handmaidens.

¹⁴ And Boaz said unto her at mealtime, Come here and eat of the bread and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers, and he gave her of the pottage, and she ate and was satisfied, and some was left over.

¹⁵ And when she had risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves and do not reproach her

¹⁶ and let fall also some of the handfuls on purpose for her and leave them that she may glean them and do not reprehend her.

¹⁷ ¶ So she gleaned in the field until evening and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.

¹⁸ And she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought forth that which had been left over after she had been satisfied and gave it to her.

¹⁹ And her mother-in-law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned today? Where hast thou worked? Blessed be he that acknowledged thee. And she declared unto her mother-in-law all that had happened to her with him and said, The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.

²⁰ And Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law, Let him be blessed of the LORD, who has not left off his mercy unto the living nor unto the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, and one of whom one has the right to redeem us.

²¹ And Ruth, the Moabitess, said, He also said unto me, Thou shalt cleave to my servants until they have finished all my harvest.

²² And Naomi replied unto Ruth her daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens that they not meet thee in any other field.

²³ So she kept close by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest and dwelt with her mother-in-law.

¹⁴ Therefore, beloved, seeing that ye hope for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless.

¹⁵ And have as saving health the patience of our Lord, even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you

¹⁶ in almost all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, among which are some things that are hard to understand, which those that are ignorant and unstable twist, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

¹⁷ Ye, therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things in advance, be on guard lest by the error of the wicked ye be deceived with the others and fall from your own steadfastness.

¹⁸ But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and until the day of eternity. Amen.z