Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 94[a]
94 O Lord, the God who avenges!
O God who avenges, reveal your splendor.[b]
2 Rise up, O judge of the earth.
Pay back the proud.
3 O Lord, how long will the wicked,
how long will the wicked celebrate?[c]
4 They spew out threats[d] and speak defiantly;
all the evildoers boast.[e]
5 O Lord, they crush your people;
they oppress the nation that belongs to you.[f]
6 They kill the widow and the resident foreigner,
and they murder the fatherless.[g]
7 Then they say, “The Lord does not see this;
the God of Jacob does not take notice of it.”[h]
8 Take notice of this,[i] you ignorant people.[j]
You fools, when will you ever understand?
9 Does the one who makes the human ear not hear?
Does the one who forms the human eye not see?[k]
10 Does the one who disciplines the nations not punish?
He is the one who imparts knowledge to human beings!
11 The Lord knows that peoples’ thoughts
are morally bankrupt.[l]
12 How blessed is the one[m] whom you instruct, O Lord,
the one whom you teach from your law,
13 in order to protect him from times of trouble,[n]
until the wicked are destroyed.[o]
14 Certainly[p] the Lord does not forsake his people;
he does not abandon the nation that belongs to him.[q]
15 For justice will prevail,[r]
and all the morally upright[s] will be vindicated.[t]
16 Who will rise up to defend me[u] against the wicked?
Who will stand up for me against the evildoers?[v]
17 If the Lord had not helped me,
I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.[w]
18 If I say, “My foot is slipping,”
your loyal love, O Lord, supports me.
19 When worries threaten to overwhelm me,[x]
your soothing touch makes me happy.[y]
20 Cruel rulers[z] are not your allies,
those who make oppressive laws.[aa]
21 They conspire against[ab] the blameless,[ac]
and condemn to death the innocent.[ad]
22 But the Lord will protect me,[ae]
and my God will shelter me.[af]
23 He will pay them back for their sin.[ag]
He will destroy them because of[ah] their evil;
the Lord our God will destroy them.
7 (Now this used to be the customary way to finalize a transaction involving redemption in Israel:[a] A man would remove his sandal and give it to the other party.[b] This was a legally binding act[c] in Israel.) 8 So the guardian said to Boaz, “You may acquire it,” and he removed his sandal.[d] 9 Then Boaz said to the leaders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I have acquired from Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech, Kilion, and Mahlon. 10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, as my wife to raise up a descendant who will inherit his property[e] so the name of the deceased might not disappear[f] from among his relatives and from his village.[g] You are witnesses today.” 11 All the people who were at the gate and the elders replied, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is entering your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built up the house of Israel! May[h] you prosper[i] in Ephrathah and become famous[j] in Bethlehem. 12 May your family[k] become like the family of Perez[l]—whom Tamar bore to Judah—through the descendants[m] the Lord gives you by this young woman.”
A Grandson is Born to Naomi
13 So Boaz married Ruth and slept with her.[n] The Lord enabled her to conceive[o] and she gave birth to a son. 14 The village women said to Naomi, “May the Lord be praised because he has not left you without a guardian[p] today! May he[q] become famous in Israel![r] 15 He will encourage you and provide for you when you are old,[s] for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, has given him birth. She[t] is better to you than seven sons!” 16 Naomi took the child and placed him on her lap;[u] she became his caregiver.[v] 17 The neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed.[w] Now he became the father of Jesse—David’s father.
Epilogue: Obed in the Genealogy of David
18 These are the descendants[x] of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron, 19 Hezron was the father of Ram, Ram was the father of Amminadab, 20 Amminadab was the father of Nachshon, Nachshon was the father of Salmah, 21 Salmon[y] was the father of Boaz, Boaz was the father of Obed, 22 Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David.[z]
Rejection at Nazareth
16 Now[a] Jesus[b] came to Nazareth,[c] where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue[d] on the Sabbath day, as was his custom.[e] He[f] stood up to read,[g] 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He[h] unrolled[i] the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed[j] me to proclaim good news[k] to the poor.[l]
He has sent me[m] to proclaim release[n] to the captives
and the regaining of sight[o] to the blind,
to set free[p] those who are oppressed,[q]
19 to proclaim the year[r] of the Lord’s favor.”[s]
20 Then[t] he rolled up[u] the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on[v] him. 21 Then[w] he began to tell them, “Today[x] this scripture has been fulfilled even as you heard it being read.”[y] 22 All[z] were speaking well of him, and were amazed at the gracious words coming out of his mouth. They[aa] said, “Isn’t this[ab] Joseph’s son?” 23 Jesus[ac] said to them, “No doubt you will quote to me the proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself!’[ad] and say, ‘What we have heard that you did in Capernaum,[ae] do here in your hometown too.’” 24 And he added,[af] “I tell you the truth,[ag] no prophet is acceptable[ah] in his hometown. 25 But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days,[ai] when the sky[aj] was shut up three and a half years, and[ak] there was a great famine over all the land. 26 Yet[al] Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to a woman who was a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.[am] 27 And there were many lepers[an] in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha,[ao] yet[ap] none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”[aq] 28 When they heard this, all the people[ar] in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, forced[as] him out of the town,[at] and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that[au] they could throw him down the cliff.[av] 30 But he passed through the crowd[aw] and went on his way.[ax]
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