Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

God Will Pay Back His Enemies

¹⁴ So Ruth lay near his feet until the morning. She rose while it was still too dark to be recognized. Boaz said to his servants, “Don’t tell anyone that the woman came here to the threshing floor.” ¹⁵ Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Bring me your shawl. Now, hold it open.”

So Ruth held her shawl open, and Boaz poured six portions of barley into it. Boaz then put it on her back, and she went to the city.

¹⁶ Ruth went to the home of her mother-in-law. And Naomi asked, “How did you do, my daughter?”

So Ruth told Naomi everything that Boaz did for her. ¹⁷ She said, “Boaz gave me these six portions of barley. He said, ‘You must not go home without a gift for your mother-in-law.’”

¹⁸ Naomi answered, “Ruth, my daughter, wait until you hear what happens. Boaz will not rest until he has finished doing what he should do this day.”

Boaz Marries Ruth

4 Boaz went to the city gate. He sat there until the close relative he had mentioned passed by. Boaz called to him, “Come here, friend! Sit down here!” So the man came over and sat down. ² Boaz gathered ten of the old men who were leaders of the city. He told them, “Sit down here!” So they sat down.

³ Then Boaz spoke to the close relative. He said, “Naomi has come back from the country of Moab. She wants to sell the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. ⁴ So I decided to say this to you: If you want to buy back the land, then buy it! Buy it in front of the people who live here and in front of the elders of my people. If you don’t want to buy it, tell me. I am the only person after you who can buy back the land. If you don’t buy it back, I will.”

And the close relative said, “I will buy back the land.”

⁵ Then Boaz said, “When you buy the land from Naomi, you must marry Ruth, the dead man’s wife. She is the woman from Moab. That way, the land will stay in her dead husband’s family.”

⁶ The close relative answered, “Then I can’t buy back the land. If I did, I might lose what I can pass on to my own sons. I cannot buy the land back. So you buy it yourself.”

⁹ To be on your list of widows, a woman must be 60 years old or older. She must have been faithful to her husband. ¹⁰ She must be known as a woman who has done good works. By this, I mean good works such as raising her children, accepting visitors in her home, washing the feet of God’s people, helping those in trouble, and using her life to do all kinds of good deeds.

¹¹ But do not put younger widows on that list. After they give themselves to Christ, they are often pulled away from him by their physical desires. And then they want to marry again. ¹² And they will be judged for not doing what they first promised to do. ¹³ Also, those younger widows begin to waste their time going from house to house. They begin to gossip and busy themselves with other people’s lives. They say things that they should not say. ¹⁴ So I want the younger widows to marry, have children, and take care of their homes. If they do this, then no enemy will have any reason to criticize them. ¹⁵ But some of the younger widows have already turned away to follow Satan.

¹⁶ If any woman who is a believer has widows in her family, then she should care for them herself. The church should not have to care for them. Then the church will be able to care for the widows who have no living family.