Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 94

The Lord Rules the Wicked

A Call for Vengeance

The Deeds of the Wicked

Relief for the Righteous

¹⁴ So she lay down at his feet until morning. She got up before it was light enough for anyone to recognize a person.

But Boaz thought, “No one should know that a woman came to the threshing floor.” ¹⁵ So he said, “Come here and hold out the shawl that you are wearing.” So she held it out. He measured out six scoops^[a] of barley into it for her to carry home. Then he^[b] returned to town.

¹⁶ When Ruth came back to her mother-in-law, Naomi said, “How did it turn out, my daughter?”

Then Ruth told her all that the man had done for her. ¹⁷ She said, “He gave me these six scoops of barley, and he said, ‘You must not return to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”

¹⁸ Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out. For the man will not rest until he has taken care of this matter today!”

Boaz and Ruth Marry and Have a Son

4 Boaz went up to the city gate, and he sat down there. Just then, the redeemer about whom Boaz had spoken was passing by. Boaz said, “Come over here! Sit down, my dear friend!”^[c] So he came over and sat down.

² Then Boaz chose ten men from the elders of the town, and he said, “Sit down here!” They too sat down.

³ Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who returned from the territory of Moab, is putting up for sale^[d] the piece of land that belongs to our brother Elimelek. ⁴ On my part, I thought I should call it to your attention so that you may acquire it in the presence of these residents and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you wish to redeem it, redeem it. But if you do not wish to redeem it, declare that to me. I know that there is no one ahead of you in the right to redeem, but I am right after you.”

So the man said, “Yes, I will redeem it.”

⁵ Then Boaz said, “On the day that you acquire the field from the hand of Naomi, I will acquire^[e] from Ruth the Moabite, the wife of the deceased, the means to perpetuate the name of the deceased on his inheritance.”

⁶ Then the redeemer said, “I am not able to redeem it for myself, or I would ruin my inheritance. You acquire for yourself my right of redemption, because I am not able to redeem it.”

⁹ Let a widow be put on the list if she is over sixty years old, has been a wife of one husband, ¹⁰ and has a good reputation for doing good: if she brought up children, if she showed hospitality to strangers, if she washed the feet of the saints, if she provided help for those in distress, and if she dedicated herself to every good work. ¹¹ But do not put younger widows on the list, for when they have strong sensual desires that pull them away from Christ, they want to marry, ¹² and so they bring judgment on themselves because they set aside their former pledge.^{[a] 13} At the same time, they also learn to be lazy as they go about from house to house. They not only learn to be lazy, but also to be gossips and busybodies, saying things that they should not say. ¹⁴ Therefore I want younger widows^[b] to marry, to have children, to keep house, and to give no opportunity for the enemy to slander them. ¹⁵ In fact, some have already turned away to follow Satan.

¹⁶ If any believing woman^[c] has widows in her family, let her keep helping them rather than letting them become a burden to the church, so that the church may help those who are truly widows.