Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁵ Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God,

⁶ who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that therein is, who keepeth truth for ever;

⁷ who executeth judgment for the oppressed, who giveth food to the hungry; the Lord looseth the prisoners.

⁸ The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind; the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down; the Lord loveth the righteous.

⁹ The Lord preserveth the strangers, He relieveth the fatherless and the widow; but the way of the wicked He turneth upside down.

¹⁰ The Lord shall reign for ever, even Thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord!

⁶ Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab how the Lord had visited His people in giving them bread.

⁷ Therefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah.

⁸ And Naomi said unto her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each to your mother’s house. The Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead and with me.

⁹ The Lord grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept.

¹⁰ And they said unto her, “Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.”

¹¹ And Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters. Why will ye go with me? Are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?

¹² Turn back, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband also tonight and should also bear sons,

¹³ would ye tarry for them until they were grown? Would ye refrain for them from having husbands? Nay, my daughters, for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.”

¹⁴ And they lifted up their voice and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth cleaved unto her.

¹⁵ And she said, “Behold, thy sister-in-law has gone back unto her people and unto her gods. Return thou after thy sister-in-law.”

¹⁶ And Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.

¹⁷ Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.”

¹⁸ When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left off speaking unto her.

3 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in both of which I stir up your purity of mind by way of remembrance,

² that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior,

³ knowing this first: that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts

⁴ and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”

⁵ For of this they are willfully ignorant: that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water,

⁶ whereby the world as it then was, being overflowed with water, perished.

⁷ But the heavens and the earth which now are, by the same Word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the Day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

⁸ But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing: that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

⁹ The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

¹⁰ But the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.