Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Naomi Makes Plans for Ruth

3 One day, Naomi said to Ruth:

It's time I found you a husband, who will give you a home and take care of you.

² You have been picking up grain alongside the women who work for Boaz, and you know he is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be threshing the grain. ³ Now take a bath and put on some perfume, then dress in your best clothes. Go where he is working, but don't let him see you until he has finished eating and drinking. ⁴ Watch where he goes to spend the night, then when he is asleep, lift the cover and lie down at his feet.^[a] He will tell you what to do.

⁵ Ruth answered, “I'll do whatever you say.”

¹³ Boaz married Ruth, and the Lord blessed her with a son. ¹⁴ After his birth, the women said to Naomi:

Praise the Lord! Today he has given you a grandson to take care of you. We pray that the boy will grow up to be famous everywhere in Israel. ¹⁵ He will^[a] make you happy and take care of you in your old age, because he is the son of your daughter-in-law. And she loves you more than seven sons of your own would love you.

¹⁶ Naomi loved the boy and took good care of him. ¹⁷ The neighborhood women named him Obed, but they called him “Naomi's Boy.”

When Obed grew up he had a son named Jesse, who later became the father of King David.

(A song by Solomon for worship.)

Only the Lord Can Bless a Home

²⁴ This is why Christ did not go into a tent made by humans and was only a copy of the real one. Instead, he went into heaven and is now there with God to help us.

²⁵ Christ did not have to offer himself many times. He wasn't like a high priest who goes into the most holy place each year to offer the blood of an animal. ²⁶ If he had offered himself every year, he would have suffered many times since the creation of the world. But instead, near the end of time he offered himself once and for all, so he could be a sacrifice that does away with sin.

²⁷ We die only once, and then we are judged. ^28 (A) So Christ died only once to take away the sins of many people. But when he comes again, it will not be to take away sin. He will come to save everyone who is waiting for him.

Jesus Condemns the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law of Moses

(Matthew 23.1-36; Luke 20.45-47)

³⁸ As Jesus was teaching, he said:

Guard against the teachers of the Law of Moses! They love to walk around in long robes and be greeted in the market. ³⁹ They like the front seats in the synagogues and the best seats at banquets. ⁴⁰ But they cheat widows out of their homes and pray long prayers just to show off. They will be punished most of all.

A Widow's Offering

(Luke 21.1-4)

⁴¹ Jesus was sitting in the temple near the offering box and watching people put in their gifts. He noticed that many rich people were giving a lot of money. ⁴² Finally, a poor widow came up and put in two coins worth only a few pennies. ⁴³ Jesus told his disciples to gather around him. Then he said:

I tell you that this poor widow has put in more than all the others. ⁴⁴ Everyone else gave what they didn't need. But she is very poor and gave everything she had. Now she doesn't have a cent to live on.