Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹ ¶ O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongs; O God, to whom vengeance belongs, show thyself.

² Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.

³ LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?

⁴ How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?

⁵ They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thy heritage.

⁶ They slay the widow and the stranger and murder the fatherless.

⁷ Yet they say, JAH shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.

⁸ Understand, ye carnal ones among the people, and, ye fools, when will ye be wise?

⁹ He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?

¹⁰ He that chastens the Gentiles, shall he not correct? he that teaches man knowledge, shall not he know?

¹¹ The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.

¹² ¶ Blessed is the man whom thou dost chasten, O JAH, and teach him out of thy law,

¹³ to cause him to rest in the days of adversity, until the pit is dug for the wicked.

¹⁴ For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.

¹⁵ But the judgment shall be returned unto righteousness, and all the upright in heart shall follow it.

¹⁶ Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?

¹⁷ Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul would have quickly dwelt with the dead.

¹⁸ When I said, My foot slips, thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.

¹⁹ In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul.

²⁰ Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, who creates toil under the guise of law?

²¹ They gather themselves together as an army against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent blood.

²² But the LORD is my refuge, and my God is the rock of my trust.

²³ And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.

¹⁴ ¶ And she lay at his feet until the morning, and she rose up before one could know another. And he said, Let it not be known that the woman has come to the threshing floor.

¹⁵ Also he said, Bring the veil that thou hast upon thee and hold it. And when she held it, he measured six measures of barley and laid it on her, and she went into the city.

¹⁶ And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, What now, my daughter? And she told her all that had happened to her with the man.

¹⁷ And she said, He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, Do not go empty unto thy mother-in-law.

¹⁸ Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until thou shall know how the matter will fall, for that man will not rest until he has concluded the thing today.

4 ¶ And Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there, and, behold, the redeemer of whom Boaz spoke came by unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! Come here and sit down. And he came and sat down.

² Then he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, Sit down here. And they sat down.

³ And he said unto the redeemer, Naomi, that is come again out of the field of Moab, sold a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech’s,

⁴ and I decided to cause thee to know this and tell thee to take it before the inhabitants and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it, but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me that I may know, for there is no one to redeem it besides thee, and I after thee. And he said, I will redeem it.

⁵ Then Boaz replied, The day that thou dost receive the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must also receive Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.

⁶ And the redeemer said, I cannot redeem it for myself lest I ruin my own inheritance; redeem thou; I cede my right to you, for I shall not be able to redeem it.

⁹ Let a widow be placed on the list being not less than sixty years old, having been the wife of one man,

¹⁰ having a good testimony of good works, if she has brought up well her children, if she has exercised hospitality, if she has washed the feet of the saints, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work.

¹¹ But the younger widows refuse, for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they desire to marry,

¹² having condemnation, because they have cast off their first faith.

¹³ And reject also the idle, who have learned to wander about from house to house, and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.

¹⁴ I desire therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, govern the house, giving no occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.

¹⁵ For some are already turned back after Satan.

¹⁶ If any faithful man or woman has widows, let them maintain them and let not the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} be charged, that it may relieve those that are widows indeed.