Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Shout Praises to the Lord

¹⁸ When Naomi saw that Ruth had made up her mind to go with her, she stopped urging her to go back.

¹⁹ They reached Bethlehem, and the whole town was excited to see them. The women who lived there asked, “Can this really be Naomi?”

²⁰ Then she told them, “Don't call me Naomi any longer! Call me Mara,^[a] because God has made my life bitter. ²¹ I had everything when I left, but the Lord has brought me back with nothing. How can you still call me Naomi, when God has turned against me and made my life so hard?”

²² The barley harvest was just beginning when Naomi and Ruth, her Moabite daughter-in-law, arrived in Bethlehem.

The Tent in Heaven

9 The first promise included rules for worship and a tent for worship here on earth. ^2 (A) The first part of the tent was called the holy place, and a lampstand, a table, and the sacred loaves of bread were kept there.

^3 (B) Behind the curtain was the most holy place. ^4 (C) The gold altar for burning incense was in this holy place. The gold-covered sacred chest was also there, and inside it were three things. First, there was a gold jar filled with manna.^[a] Then there was Aaron's walking stick that sprouted.^[b] Finally, there were the flat stones with the Ten Commandments written on them. ^5 (D) On top of the chest were the glorious creatures with wings^[c] opened out above the place of mercy.^[d]

Now isn't the time to go into detail about these things. ^6 (E) But this is how everything was when the priests went each day into the first part of the tent to do their duties. ^7 (F) However, only the high priest could go into the second part of the tent, and he went in only once a year. Each time he carried blood to offer for his sins and for any sins that the people had committed without meaning to.

⁸ All of this is the Holy Spirit's way of saying no one could enter the most holy place while the tent was still the place of worship. ⁹ This also has a meaning for today. It shows we cannot make our consciences clear by offering gifts and sacrifices. ¹⁰ These rules are merely about such things as eating and drinking and ceremonies for washing ourselves. And rules about physical things will last only until the time comes to change them for something better.

^11 (G) Christ came as the high priest of the good things that are now here.^[e] He also went into a much better tent that wasn't made by humans and that doesn't belong to this world. ¹² Then Christ went once for all into the most holy place and freed us from sin forever. He did this by offering his own blood instead of the blood of goats and bulls.