Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

(A song by Solomon for worship.)

Only the Lord Can Bless a Home

Ruth and Boaz Get Married

4 In the meanwhile, Boaz had gone to the meeting place at the town gate and was sitting there when the other close relative came by. So Boaz invited him to come over and sit down, and he did. ² Then Boaz got ten of the town leaders and also asked them to sit down. After they had sat down, ³ he said to the man:

Naomi has come back from Moab and is selling the land that belonged to her husband Elimelech. ⁴ I'm telling you about this, since you are his closest relative and have the right to buy the property. If you want it, you can buy it now. These ten men and the others standing here can be witnesses. But if you don't want the property, let me know, because I am next in line.

The man replied, “I'll buy it!”

⁵ “If you do buy it from Naomi,” Boaz told him, “you must also marry Ruth. Then if you have a son by her, the property will stay in the family of Ruth's first husband.”

⁶ The man answered, “If that's the case, I don't want to buy it! That would make problems with the property I already own.^[a] You may buy it yourself, because I cannot.”

^7 (A) To make a sale legal in those days, one person would take off a sandal and give it to the other. ⁸ So after the man had agreed to let Boaz buy the property, he took off one of his sandals and handed it to Boaz.

⁹ Boaz told the town leaders and everyone else:

All of you are witnesses that today I have bought from Naomi the property that belonged to Elimelech and his two sons, Chilion and Mahlon. ^10 (B) You are also witnesses that I have agreed to marry Mahlon's widow Ruth, the Moabite woman. This will keep the property in his family's name, and he will be remembered in this town.

⁶ Christ died for us at a time when we were helpless and sinful. ⁷ No one is really willing to die for an honest person, though someone might be willing to die for a truly good person. ⁸ But God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful.

⁹ But there is more! Now that God has accepted us because Christ sacrificed his life's blood, we will also be kept safe from God's anger. ¹⁰ Even when we were God's enemies, he made peace with us, because his Son died for us. Yet something even greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, we will be saved by the life of his Son. ¹¹ And in addition to everything else, we are happy because God sent our Lord Jesus Christ to make peace with us.