Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
94 1-2 Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs, let your glory shine out. Arise and judge the earth; sentence the proud to the penalties they deserve. 3 Lord, how long shall the wicked be allowed to triumph and exult? 4 Hear their insolence! See their arrogance! How these men of evil boast! 5 See them oppressing your people, O Lord, afflicting those you love. 6-7 They murder widows, immigrants, and orphans, for “The Lord isn’t looking,” they say, “and besides, he[a] doesn’t care.”
8 Fools! 9 Is God deaf and blind—he who makes ears and eyes? 10 He punishes the nations—won’t he also punish you? He knows everything—doesn’t he also know what you are doing?
11 The Lord is fully aware of how limited and futile the thoughts of mankind are, 12-13 so he helps us by punishing us. This makes us follow his paths and gives us respite from our enemies while God traps them and destroys them. 14 The Lord will not forsake his people, for they are his prize. 15 Judgment will again be just, and all the upright will rejoice.
16 Who will protect me from the wicked? Who will be my shield? 17 I would have died unless the Lord had helped me. 18 I screamed, “I’m slipping, Lord!” and he was kind and saved me.
19 Lord, when doubts fill my mind, when my heart is in turmoil, quiet me and give me renewed hope and cheer. 20 Will you permit a corrupt government to rule under your protection—a government permitting wrong to defeat right? 21-22 Do you approve of those who condemn the innocent to death? No! The Lord my God is my fortress—the mighty Rock where I can hide. 23 God has made the sins of evil men to boomerang upon them! He will destroy them by their own plans. Jehovah our God will cut them off.
14 So she lay at his feet until the morning and was up early, before daybreak, for he had said to her, “Don’t let it be known that a woman was here at the threshing floor.”
15-18 “Bring your shawl,” he told her. Then he tied up a bushel and a half of barley in it as a present for her mother-in-law and laid it on her back. Then she returned to the city.
“Well, what happened, dear?” Naomi asked her when she arrived home. She told Naomi everything and gave her the barley from Boaz, and mentioned his remark that she mustn’t go home without a present.
Then Naomi said to her, “Just be patient until we hear what happens, for Boaz won’t rest until he has followed through on this. He’ll settle it today.”
4 So Boaz went down to the marketplace[a] and found the relative he had mentioned.
“Say, come over here,” he called to him. “I want to talk to you a minute.”
So they sat down together. 2 Then Boaz called for ten of the chief men of the village and asked them to sit as witnesses.
3 Boaz said to his relative, “You know Naomi, who came back to us from Moab. She is selling our brother Elimelech’s property. 4 I felt that I should speak to you about it so that you can buy it if you wish, with these respected men as witnesses. If you want it,[b] let me know right away, for if you don’t take it, I will. You have the first right to purchase it and I am next.”
The man replied, “All right, I’ll buy it.”
5 Then Boaz told him, “Your purchase of the land from Naomi requires your marriage to Ruth so that she can have children to carry on her husband’s name and to inherit the land.”
6 “Then I can’t do it,” the man replied. “For her son would become an heir to my property too;[c] you buy it.”
9 A widow who wants to become one of the special church workers[a] should be at least sixty years old and have been married only once. 10 She must be well thought of by everyone because of the good she has done. Has she brought up her children well? Has she been kind to strangers as well as to other Christians? Has she helped those who are sick and hurt? Is she always ready to show kindness?
11 The younger widows should not become members of this special group because after a while they are likely to disregard their vow to Christ and marry again. 12 And so they will stand condemned because they broke their first promise. 13 Besides, they are likely to be lazy and spend their time gossiping around from house to house, getting into other people’s business. 14 So I think it is better for these younger widows to marry again and have children and take care of their own homes; then no one will be able to say anything against them. 15 For I am afraid that some of them have already turned away from the church and been led astray by Satan.
16 Let me remind you again that a widow’s relatives must take care of her and not leave this to the church to do. Then the church can spend its money for the care of widows who are all alone and have nowhere else to turn.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.