Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

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 that Jehovah had visited his people in giving them bread. ⁷ And 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 of you to her mother’s house: Jehovah deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. ⁹ Jehovah 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, Nay, but we will return with thee unto thy people. ¹¹ And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? ¹² Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should even have a husband to-night, and should also bear sons; ¹³ would ye therefore tarry till they were grown? would ye therefore stay from having husbands? nay, my daughters, for it ^[a]grieveth me much for your sakes, for the hand of Jehovah is gone forth against me. ¹⁴ And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clave unto her.

¹⁵ And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people, and unto her god: return thou after thy sister-in-law. ¹⁶ And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, and 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: Jehovah do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me. ¹⁸ And when she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking unto her.

3 This is now, beloved, the second epistle that I write unto you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by putting you in remembrance; ² that ye should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour through your apostles: ³ knowing this first, that ^[a]in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts, ⁴ and saying, Where is the promise of his ^[b]coming? for, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. ⁵ For this they wilfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and ^[c]amidst water, by the word of God; ⁶ by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: ⁷ but the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been ^[d]stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

⁸ But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing 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 which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the ^[e]elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be ^[f]burned up.